The perspectives in this article have been informed by some of my work with not for profit Boards as an interim Executive Director and fair to add, some 25 years of providing oversight to transfer payment agencies.<\/p>\n
By way of context, social services in Ontario are governed mostly through volunteers serving on NFP boards. On balance, I think as a province we have been pretty well served by this model. But there is room for improvement.<\/p>\n
Social Services funding has grown to billions of dollars. Agencies have become increasingly complex to administer. Governments are more intrusive; there is more regulation and more legislation to comply with. Third party reviewers are running rampant and they have been given more authority than ever to investigate.<\/p>\n
Volunteer Board members either have full time jobs and are pursuing their own careers or are retired and leading busy lives. As you might expect, they lean heavily on their Executive Directors to operate their agencies<\/p>\n
Executive Directors are generally a committed lot, but are often stretched and are leading organizations without sufficient infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Boards are sometimes not organized to provide effective oversight of their Executive Directors. \u00a0Their governance model often has not been recalibrated to reflect today\u2019s highly centralized and accountable environment. On occasion, there is an over-reliance on \u201cCarver-like principles\u201d that are far too weighted on policy and setting strategic direction with not enough emphasis on monitoring results<\/p>\n
NFP Boards generally would do well to be more engaged and more results focused, especially in the key areas of finance, human resources, and program delivery.<\/p>\n
They also need to adopt tools to better supervise their Executive Directors. Unlike in government or in other large bureaucracies where there are many \u201cBosses\u201d looking in, our agencies for the most part rely on Boards of Directors to support and provide guidance to the Executive Director. There are no other layers. Without an engaged Board, the Executive Director can quickly feel pretty isolated at the top.<\/p>\n
Here are some critical success factors that will help Boards become more effective in their role as \u201cBosses\u201d.<\/p>\n
The stakes for not for profit boards in social services are high \u2014 they are governing complex organizations, often serving vulnerable people. They are responsible for the stewardship of millions of dollars. Liability and risks are inherent. They can\u2019t afford to cruise at twenty five thousand feet. In today\u2019s world, Board\u2019s must pay increasing attention to their role as the \u201cBoss\u2019s Boss\u201d.<\/p>\n
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