I’ve served on a host of boards over the last 25 years and have seen each of these behaviors numerous times. The most effective response that I have had as both board President and member, often the Secretary of the Board is to propose that we table the motion to make sure that all the Board members have had a chance to examine the policy. Many people who are at first intimidated will immediately offer a second and the Board Chair or President will then ask for further discussion of the motion. Most times one or two people who are thoroughly intimidated and often work for the Chairman or President will give weak opposition to table remarks. At that point, I call for a vote and almost always it is passed by a very strong majority usually closet 75%.
That gives the Executive Director a chance to marshall the forces and prepare the committee members who worked on the policy for the next Board meeting.
I have never served on a board of any kind but I have observed and been the brunt of these behaviors my hole life. Ms. Nonprofiteer has described these proclivities very apply and adaquately. I find it a bit humorus that professional individuals of your stature are just becoming aware enough to start talking or rather using exopsitory means to describe them. My first encounter was in elementary school and these behaviors were used against any other student who was held to be less popular. The proclivities are learned early and are encouraged through the formative education years to the point that they become the means to the end for which the individual or individuals covet. It is good that light is being shed on this subject because it is the same behavior profiles that you find in for-profit corperate board rooms, government positions on commitees, and in the elected positions of government at all levels, take the candidates running for president, do you see any of the profiles described by Ms. Nonprofiteer because I do! Dealing with this behavior as it reflects on the governance of non-profits seem a bit short sighted and completely self-serving to those that have vested interests, 25 years, hum. If such egregious behavior is to be dealt with don’t you think that it should be dealt with at the level it was introduced at. Now you know why I have been the brunt of these behaviors my whole lift! I don’t always preceive the situation the way that others want it preceived. Non-profits do good things and sometimes not so good things with other peoples money and it is this that needs to be looked at and not how to create a quram by ganging up on someone who is only behaving the way society has rewarded him to. Stay tuned, I read a lot, I read this, will you all grant me the same respect?
Although these stereotypcial behaviors certainly exist in and out of the boardroom, the solutions to successfully manage them are far more delicate and take more finese than prescribed or suggested. An ED (CEO) who overtly confronts such behavior in the board room does so at the risk of his/her job. This is especially so if the offender is the board chair! The most effective way to prevent these negative and abusive behaviors is to head them off before they occur through very careful board selection and orientation. Does a prospective board member play well with others? If the answer is no, then they should never be a board member. If they are a board member already, then their behavior needs to be confronted behind closed doors preferably one-on-one by the board chair. If the offender is the board chair and you’re a board member, be prepared to suffer until his/her tem is over. And if you’re the ED/CEO, start polishing up your resume!
Can we think of a more effective governance structure for not for profits? I have not experienced one effective not for profit board. At best they have been ineffective and inoffensive and at worse they have been downright destructive with no one to answer to.
I agree that the strategies needed by the ED/EO/CEO to work effectively with a board are diverse and numerable. Perhaps we all spend way too much time trying to manage the board rather than delivering effective services?
Sadly, an Executive Director can also find themselves in a position where their staff are being abused and bullied by such a Board member, and be forced to act quickly to not only try and protect their staff, but also to protect the organisation from legal employment proceedings. This can be a dilemma as to do nothing is unacceptable, and to act can be career ending (as I discovered.) The very real additional danger occurs when Boards/Chairs fail to act in a timely manner, or at all, and when finally faced with the inevitable then implement a cover up to protect their good names - at the cost of many careers. Been there. Been a victim. Got to see a great staff team exterminated. And the organisation brought to its knees as a result. Governance with impunity - the achilles heel of all non profits.
What if the board chair is the bully, grew up in a destitute area of the countryside and only climbed as high as a tech school in engineering design. It’s an accomplishment for where he came from but still he’s got a very very bad case of thinking everyone’s out to get him. He too has transferred his day job managing to the nonprofit where over 500 people own their own cottages and are stewards over him at this place. As soon as he took over as bd. pres. he started becoming like Hitler. This place is a Christian camp ground almost 200 years old on the national register of historic places! He’s ruining our health attacking us like we are trailer park trash and our heads are spinning. One man he and his mini-hitler attacked all year died and was a 21 year military vet with the seabees and worked hand in hand with seal team 4 all those years and yet they treated him like a homeless person! He’s broken so many laws, violated our constitutional rights and been threatening to evict anyone who disagrees with him or asks questions. He’s also set up a new lease to take people’s houses for one simple rule violation! We’ve reported him to the local police and the Attorney General and there are at least two investigations going on but I won’t say from whom and we aren’t allowed to know they are going on via our own board. I only became aware of it because they were talking openly in a restaurant about it and saying they were keeping all of us from knowing so we had time to respond to the law doing the investigation! I put it on a secret group on FB to tell all owners here as we get sued for the board’s law breaking and we all have to pay for it! We’re doing our best to muddle through to figure out how to shut him down but he and some others using him as a puppet are bent on taking the place over for personal profit. I know too much info but we’re just about at our wits end. Any help would be appreciated.
COMMENTS
BY Jack Hickey-Williams
ON May 1, 2008 01:15 PM
I’ve served on a host of boards over the last 25 years and have seen each of these behaviors numerous times. The most effective response that I have had as both board President and member, often the Secretary of the Board is to propose that we table the motion to make sure that all the Board members have had a chance to examine the policy. Many people who are at first intimidated will immediately offer a second and the Board Chair or President will then ask for further discussion of the motion. Most times one or two people who are thoroughly intimidated and often work for the Chairman or President will give weak opposition to table remarks. At that point, I call for a vote and almost always it is passed by a very strong majority usually closet 75%.
That gives the Executive Director a chance to marshall the forces and prepare the committee members who worked on the policy for the next Board meeting.
BY Charles S. Shepherd III
ON May 1, 2008 03:58 PM
Mr. Williams,
I have never served on a board of any kind but I have observed and been the brunt of these behaviors my hole life. Ms. Nonprofiteer has described these proclivities very apply and adaquately. I find it a bit humorus that professional individuals of your stature are just becoming aware enough to start talking or rather using exopsitory means to describe them. My first encounter was in elementary school and these behaviors were used against any other student who was held to be less popular. The proclivities are learned early and are encouraged through the formative education years to the point that they become the means to the end for which the individual or individuals covet. It is good that light is being shed on this subject because it is the same behavior profiles that you find in for-profit corperate board rooms, government positions on commitees, and in the elected positions of government at all levels, take the candidates running for president, do you see any of the profiles described by Ms. Nonprofiteer because I do! Dealing with this behavior as it reflects on the governance of non-profits seem a bit short sighted and completely self-serving to those that have vested interests, 25 years, hum. If such egregious behavior is to be dealt with don’t you think that it should be dealt with at the level it was introduced at. Now you know why I have been the brunt of these behaviors my whole lift! I don’t always preceive the situation the way that others want it preceived. Non-profits do good things and sometimes not so good things with other peoples money and it is this that needs to be looked at and not how to create a quram by ganging up on someone who is only behaving the way society has rewarded him to. Stay tuned, I read a lot, I read this, will you all grant me the same respect?
BY John Ireland
ON May 2, 2008 04:59 AM
Although these stereotypcial behaviors certainly exist in and out of the boardroom, the solutions to successfully manage them are far more delicate and take more finese than prescribed or suggested. An ED (CEO) who overtly confronts such behavior in the board room does so at the risk of his/her job. This is especially so if the offender is the board chair! The most effective way to prevent these negative and abusive behaviors is to head them off before they occur through very careful board selection and orientation. Does a prospective board member play well with others? If the answer is no, then they should never be a board member. If they are a board member already, then their behavior needs to be confronted behind closed doors preferably one-on-one by the board chair. If the offender is the board chair and you’re a board member, be prepared to suffer until his/her tem is over. And if you’re the ED/CEO, start polishing up your resume!
BY FAR Social Enterprise
ON May 4, 2008 09:50 PM
Can we think of a more effective governance structure for not for profits? I have not experienced one effective not for profit board. At best they have been ineffective and inoffensive and at worse they have been downright destructive with no one to answer to.
I agree that the strategies needed by the ED/EO/CEO to work effectively with a board are diverse and numerable. Perhaps we all spend way too much time trying to manage the board rather than delivering effective services?
BY Chris
ON August 1, 2016 01:49 PM
Sadly, an Executive Director can also find themselves in a position where their staff are being abused and bullied by such a Board member, and be forced to act quickly to not only try and protect their staff, but also to protect the organisation from legal employment proceedings. This can be a dilemma as to do nothing is unacceptable, and to act can be career ending (as I discovered.) The very real additional danger occurs when Boards/Chairs fail to act in a timely manner, or at all, and when finally faced with the inevitable then implement a cover up to protect their good names - at the cost of many careers. Been there. Been a victim. Got to see a great staff team exterminated. And the organisation brought to its knees as a result. Governance with impunity - the achilles heel of all non profits.
BY Patty
ON October 26, 2019 08:13 PM
What if the board chair is the bully, grew up in a destitute area of the countryside and only climbed as high as a tech school in engineering design. It’s an accomplishment for where he came from but still he’s got a very very bad case of thinking everyone’s out to get him. He too has transferred his day job managing to the nonprofit where over 500 people own their own cottages and are stewards over him at this place. As soon as he took over as bd. pres. he started becoming like Hitler. This place is a Christian camp ground almost 200 years old on the national register of historic places! He’s ruining our health attacking us like we are trailer park trash and our heads are spinning. One man he and his mini-hitler attacked all year died and was a 21 year military vet with the seabees and worked hand in hand with seal team 4 all those years and yet they treated him like a homeless person! He’s broken so many laws, violated our constitutional rights and been threatening to evict anyone who disagrees with him or asks questions. He’s also set up a new lease to take people’s houses for one simple rule violation! We’ve reported him to the local police and the Attorney General and there are at least two investigations going on but I won’t say from whom and we aren’t allowed to know they are going on via our own board. I only became aware of it because they were talking openly in a restaurant about it and saying they were keeping all of us from knowing so we had time to respond to the law doing the investigation! I put it on a secret group on FB to tell all owners here as we get sued for the board’s law breaking and we all have to pay for it! We’re doing our best to muddle through to figure out how to shut him down but he and some others using him as a puppet are bent on taking the place over for personal profit. I know too much info but we’re just about at our wits end. Any help would be appreciated.