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Board Effectiveness
QUIZ |
(Answers Below)
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Copyright
ReSolve, Inc. 2000, 2005, 2012©
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Ask yourself the
following:
| Q: |
What
percentage of time at each board meeting is spent talking about things that
have already happened (staff reports, financial reports, etc.)? |
| Q: |
When you
talk about past issues, is it to quantitatively monitor progress, or just
"report activity?" |
| Q: |
What
percentage of time is spent talking about the impact the organization will make
on the community? |
| Q: |
Can you
clearly articulate your board's priorities for what the organization should
accomplish this year? What portion of those goals have to do with strengthening
your organization vs. impacting the community? |
| Q: |
True or
false: Our board discusses such important matters for guiding the
organization that the organization would have no overall direction without
those discussions. |
| Q: |
When you
review the budget, how do you know whether or not you should approve it?
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| Q: |
Of the total
budget for your organization, which items were discussed at length? Do any of
those items comprise less than 1% of your budget (on a $1million budget, that
would be $10,000 or less)? What percentage of the budget was passed without
comment? Why? |
| Q: |
Does your
board spend most of its time reacting/responding or setting the stage/creating
the future? |
| Q: |
2 part
question:
Part 1: Fill in the blank:
When our board has tough decisions to make, we always base those decisions on
________________.
Part 2: Would you want
your answer to Part 1 posted in your lobby? |
| Q: |
True or
false: Our board discusses such important matters for the future of our
community that I feel horrible missing a single meeting. |
How many of the following would you
agree with?
| Q: |
Our board spends a great
deal of time on trivial items. |
| Q: |
We receive reams of
paper before each board meeting, but I don’t think anyone really reads it
all. |
| Q: |
The information we
receive at board meetings comes to us because the board has determined this is
what we want to monitor. |
| Q: |
The information we
receive at board meetings comes to us because this is the information the staff
thinks we should have. |
| Q: |
The staff complains
that the board micromanages, but we’re just doing our job. |
| Q: |
Our board discusses
issues, but in the end we pretty much approve whatever the staff
requests. |
| Q: |
Our board has one board
member who is authorized to relate board information to the staff. |
| Q: |
We haven’t done a
review of our executive director in at least 2 years. |
| Q: |
We review our executive
director every year, but we have no quantifiable criteria by which to measure
his/her performance. |
| Q: |
I’ve been on this
board for a little over a year, and I’m finally getting a sense of how I
can contribute. |
| Q: |
I’ve been on this
board for a little over a year, and I’m STILL not really sure where I fit
in. |
Answers: You don't need an answer key to know how you did. If you are
talking about the past more than the future; rubber stamping or otherwise
duplicating the staff's work; discussing tiny budget items but letting the big
ones slide; and overall feeling that you aren't sure what else you should be
doing, then you don't need a quiz to know that there has to be a better
way.
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