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    Fill the Seat: The Onboarding Blueprint for Your Nonprofit Board Chair
    Fill the Seat: The Onboarding Blueprint for Your Nonprofit Board Chair
    Fill the Seat: The Onboarding Blueprint for Your Nonprofit Board Chair
    Ebook98 pages1 hour

    Fill the Seat: The Onboarding Blueprint for Your Nonprofit Board Chair

    By Dr. Kate Shilvock

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Help! My nonprofit needs a board chair!


    Finding board volunteers to serve in this top governance role is a near universal problem throughout the nonprofit sector, but hav

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGet It Done Productions, LLC
    Release dateJun 18, 2024
    ISBN9781956989410
    Fill the Seat: The Onboarding Blueprint for Your Nonprofit Board Chair

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      Book preview

      Fill the Seat - Dr. Kate Shilvock

      PART 1

      THE PROBLEM

      ONE

      IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN…

      As a nonprofit leader, you’re likely familiar with the frustration of filling the board chair position. Endless cycles of succession characterize the governing structure of nonprofit organizations. The reasoning behind short term limits is to prevent stagnancy, integrate fresh new ideas, and protect the organization from the long-term consequences of an incongruous board chair. This is great in theory, but the translation to practice gets tricky. One of the biggest challenges with this ongoing turnover is simply finding a willing and able person to fill the board chair position. In fact, many studies (including my own) show that it’s the rare nonprofit that can easily fill the board chair position. Most chairs volunteer because, well, no one else would. Once the position has been filled, the challenge becomes ensuring the new chair is properly trained and up to snuff. Research indicates that many small- and medium-sized nonprofits think they lack the resources to provide effective onboarding to their board chairs. However, when done well (or even done at all!), onboarding is much less resource-intensive than you might think and can easily become a part of your culture.

      Oh, but then there’s the fact that you’ve likely got your hands full with managing your teams, fundraising, operational challenges, governance issues, communications, etc. Finding the time to prepare a new individual to assume this position may feel daunting, especially when you know they won’t be sticking around long. BUT, dedicating effort to onboarding is incredibly important. Why? Think about it like this. The governing structure of nonprofits is unique in that every time term limits are reached, you’re tasked with finding and hiring a new board chair. That new chair, who could be someone who never served on the board, may have zero nonprofit experience, and is only qualified based on their willingness to volunteer, that person then becomes your boss. That’s right, your boss. You’d be hard-pressed to think of any other setting where this is common practice. In the nonprofit world, it’s standard operating procedure.

      Executive directors are often so overwhelmed with their own job of, you know, running an entire organization, that the thought of onboarding a new chair seems daunting, at best. I know the idea of adding one more thing to your plate probably makes you cringe because I’ve been in your shoes. During my career supporting, mentoring, and being an executive director, there were times when my colleagues and I secretly hoped a new chair would just be able to figure everything out on their own. Really, we just crossed our fingers that the new chair wouldn’t cause anything to implode. Other times, we prayed they wouldn’t step in too heavily on the administrative side and into our world, that they will stay in their lane while we stayed in ours. Sadly, board chair turnover is a big, stinking pain in the you-know-what.

      This book aims to significantly reduce the stress of board chair succession by helping you establish a simple, evidence-based onboarding system. Onboarding provides an opportunity for you to start the relationship with your board chair off on the right foot. Through onboarding, you can establish communication needs, review the responsibilities held by each of you, and set clear expectations for one another. When a chair is provided with the knowledge and support they need, they can do their job (… so you don’t have to) and your relationship with them can blossom into a productive partnership that strengthens your nonprofit’s culture and effectiveness.

      Don’t put this book down yet! I know what you’re thinking: Great, another thing to add to my already overwhelming to-do list. As if you’re not already flirting with burnout and struggling to balance your life. My goal isn’t to load your plate up with more *stuff* to do. I want to help lessen your load, and proper chair onboarding can do just that. Yes, there will be a bit of upfront work, but I promise it will make your life much easier each time you have a new chair in the future (and even make the onerous process of identifying your next one smoother). I’m going to explain why chair onboarding is so important, what it should entail, and the most simple and efficient way to get it done.

      In this book, I’ve compiled my professional experience, my research, and insights from board chairs to develop a comprehensive guide for tackling the onboarding dilemma. Keeping common challenges and limitations in mind, my goal was to create a short handbook packed with actionable strategies and advice. This book will help you develop an onboarding system that you can easily implement each time you’re tasked with bringing on a new board chair. While the system may need tweaks as your organization evolves, this blueprint will greatly reduce the future stresses and burdens associated with onboarding, help alleviate common operational problems in the nonprofit sector, and strengthen your governance framework.

      For the sake of simplicity (and efficiency), I’ve divided this book into two parts: The problem and the solution. It’s hard to fix something if we don’t fully understand how the problem came to be. We’re first going to take a magnifying glass to the problems surrounding nonprofit board chair succession, from the perspectives of both the executive director and the board chair. Then, I’m going to tell you about my decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, as well as my research on chair onboarding (the latter is a lot more interesting than it may sound).

      For those of you thinking, Listen Kate, I don’t have all day here, I hear you! Part 2 of the book is focused on the solutions to the problems I outline in Part 1.

      Each solution is organized into a chapter that has practical and actionable strategies that will help you develop your onboarding blueprint. Additionally, several helpful PDFs and templates can be downloaded for free on my website to be used and shared with others, www.centricnonprofitconsulting.com.

      Alright, let’s begin.

      TWO

      THE BOARD CHAIR - WHY IT’S A HARD SEAT TO FILL

      Research indicates that around 90% of individuals who hold board chair positions at nonprofits are only doing it because nobody else volunteered. Yep, not a typo. Whether it was due to a lack of volunteers or unexpected departures, the decision to assume leadership responsibilities were sometimes reluctantly accepted by participants in my research. I took on the board chair role out of necessity, admitted one board chair I interviewed, highlighting a pragmatic

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