Dr. Ted Flickinger IAPD President and Chief Executive Officer

GET ON BOARD

Don't Make Personnel Matters Personal

The problem is we are all human, and we all function in a world where politics and personalities can easily enter into our processes. As a board, you need to evaluate your executive fairly. You need to refrain from interfering with staff management issues. You need to help one another conduct professional and efficient meetings.

Here are tips that I hope will help.

Goals for the Executive's Evaluation

Before your board evaluates the executive director, take time to evaluate the method in which you perform that evaluation. As a board, review your methodology and ask:

1. Is it consistent? Just because board members change, you don't change the evaluation. Scrutinize the evaluation method each year and determine whether the goals are as valuable now as when they were first developed. Check to make sure they are consistent with the strategic plan.

2. Is it professional? Are your processes — and documents you've developed as part of those processes — designed to encourage high standards?

3. Is the evaluation process objective and unbiased, or is it slanted? In a fair evaluation process, there is no place for a board member's axe grinding. The process should not be personal.

4. Is the evaluation a tool for improving the executive's performance and also improving the organization's outcomes?

The board should also allow the executive to have input on the evaluation process under which he or she is evaluated. The board should evaluate that input, but isn't bound to follow it.

An evaluation process must be one that the board can agree to and abide by.

Include Board Members' Written Comments with the Executive Director's Evaluation

Many evaluation documents for executives are forms that ask board members a series of "yes" or "no" questions or ask them to rate on a 1 to 5 scale how the executive director functions at a specific aspect of the job.

An additional strategy is to allow for written comments under each evaluation section. For instance, you can ask a board member to rate the executive director's overall performance in a given year. Underneath that 1 to 5 rating, you can ask questions that solicit specific written comments, such as What impressedjou the most about the executive's performance this year? or, What specific recommendations do you have for the executive to improve performance?

The board that doesn't support its grievance procedure is inviting trouble.

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At the end of the evaluation, board members need to sit down and ask: What do we think are the priorities for the executive for next year? That's done as an entire board.

Keep in mind, the goal is to evaluate results, not personalities.

Employee Grievances

I have always said that a staff member's grievance procedure ends with the executive director's decision unless the employee's grievance reveals a major problem in the system that affects the entire organization, reveals a moral issue or reveals a criminal act.

A board member called me saying that the board is not following its grievance procedure and is taking petty grievances because it recently reversed the executive's decision on an individual employee's grievance. When the employee found out that her grievance had been turned down, she called the board president directly and asked for a hearing. The president heard the employee out and directed the executive director to accommodate her.

What's wrong with this picture? The board approved a grievance procedure, but didn't let it work. Now all employees who want special treatment are contacting their friends on the board directly and seeking board resolutions to their issues.

The board that doesn't support its grievance procedure is inviting just this land of trouble.

Every board member who is approached by an employee with a grievance should remind him or her that the board doesn't manage personnel issues.

Suggestions for Better Board Meetings

Board meetings that drag on usually don't accomplish much except to drain the enthusiasm and energy of the board members.

Here are three ideas to add to your list of how to have better board meetings.

1. Eliminate confusion about the board packet. The board packet should have a table of contents and each page should be numbered so that people can say, "Turn to page 10," or "See the committee report on page 15." Preparing board packets that are easy to negotiate shows board members that an agency — and its executive director — are well organized. Well designed board packets also help make meetings more efficient.

2. For real challenging issues, the board should ask the executive director to prepare a position paper that gives the pros and cons of an issue and a recommendation. Of course, this position paper should be supplied to the board a minimum of three days, and hopefully five days, before a board meeting.

3. When you know an issue is going to require an in-depth discussion, plan a special meeting just for that issue. This gives board members time to think out their concerns and plan their remarks on the issue. This strategy keeps a regular board meeting from going into extended hours. Meetings that run long entice people to make a quick decision — often times not the right decision — just to get the meeting over.

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