GET ON BOARD

Dr. Ted Flickinger IAPD President and Chief Executive Officer

An executive called me at my home one night. He told me the board president informed him that the board would like to re-do the organizational chart and change his job description. The board believes the executive has too many people to supervise.

Watch out. This is a prime example of a board that wants to get involved in day-to-day operations and take away the executive's responsibilities.

The problem? That's not the board's job.

Why Boards Micromanage

The role of the board needs constant definition and reinforcement.

Situations like this are becoming more prevalent. Perhaps it's a sign of the times. A seemingly invincible company like Enron collapses, and a common reaction from the business press is that the board wasn't paying attention. Perhaps more than ever before, today's board members feel the weight of their responsibilities. When commissioners are elected to the board, they hear that they now have some degree of public accountability. They think the community will make them responsible for the success or failure of the agency. They care and they don't know what to do, so they default to what they know how to do. For instance, a board member who is a financial advisor might immediately start looking at the books. An HR executive might try to direct staff. Reverting to their daily expertise gives them a sense of control and calms their fears.

What Executives Can Do to Overcome the Micromanagement Urge

An executive needs to understand that the invitation for board micromanagement is out there. An executive who fails to get the board comfortable with its role as a governing — not a managing — body is putting a first class stamp on the micromanagement invitation.

What actions should be taken? The executive needs to get the board comfortable with the agency and then redirect the board towards focusing on its proper duties.

The best first step is empathy. Hildy Gottlieb, writing for help4nonprofits.com reminds executives, "If you can keep in mind that boards micromanage because they care and therefore have fears and concerns, and NOT because they are power hungry control freaks, then you will be better equipped to get them to stop."

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, executives should interpret a move towards micromanagement as a signal that a conscientious board either doesn't know or isn't completely comfortable with its job. Even if the executive has put each board member through rigorous training, he or she must realize that the role of the board needs constant definition and reinforcement. This is the only way the board and the executive will achieve the kind of comfort level that fosters a proper working relationship.

If you can alleviate the board's fear of doing too little, you'll save your agency the heartache of having a board that attempts to do too much.

Start by orienting (or re-orienting) the board by having them spend some time at the agency. Show them how smoothly programs run. Show them that your staff has the special expertise it takes to run a park district, forest preserve or recreation agency. Show them your successes. Let employees share their accomplishments. Encourage citizens to explain firsthand how the organization has helped them. Perhaps then the board members will see that the agency isn't

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broken, and they'll feel much less pressure to "fix it." If you can alleviate the board's fear of doing too little, you'll save your agency the heartache of having a board that attempts to do too much.

Once board members are comfortable with the agency, they need to be reinforced in their proper role. The best tool for accomplishing this is a board policy manual. Every park district, forest preserve or recreation agency should have a board member manual with the job description ready for each board member when he or she begins service. The sections of the manual that address the board's authority and functions should stress that the board is a policymaking body. A matrix that compares and contrasts the duties of the board with those of the executive is also a good idea. (One is available form IAPD.)

The manual should be reviewed once a year to make sure that it clearly delineates the board's responsibilities (and the limits thereof). In addition to that exercise, I recommend devoting 10 or 15 minutes at the beginning or end of each meeting to board development. The executive can present a specific (if hypothetical) situation, and together the executive and the board can discuss what their roles would be in resolving the issue. For example, the issue might be the salary level for hiring a new superintendent of recreation. The board would come to understand that its job is to allocate a line item for salaries in the annual budget, and it is the executive's job to set the agency's salary table so that it is less than or equal to that line item.

What Board Members Can Do to Overcome the Micromanagement Urge

Hildy Gottlieb tells the story of the board president who was having trouble understanding the board's role in running the agency. He said that if his agency were a ship, then the executive and the employees would have the jobs of keeping the vessel seaworthy, of securing the cargo and manning the all stations. He wondered where that left the board. But then he was asked: Who sets the course? Who sets the guidelines that tell the captain when he can sail in rough waters and when he must leave the ship at the dock? And then that board president began to see the board's purpose.

Your job as a board member is to make sure that you are comfortable with the operations of your agency. If you are not, challenge your executive to show you that the ship sails smoothly. Once you are reasonably assured that the day-to-day operations are in capable hands, you need to let go of that worry and concentrate on issues of governance, not management.

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