The Dreaded Word
Micromanagement!
It’s not easy being a board member. The work we have to do on a board is not intuitive. Nor is it the kind of work most of us do every day. We are human, and we want to be successful in what we do. However, what we do may not be the right thing for us to do in the board room.
Lately too many situations on this challenge have come to my attention, so it’s probably time for a little reminder about one of the most important aspects of being a nonprofit board member.
Our work is not to do the work of the organization we lead. Our work is to set the future path and to provide oversight to those who do the operational work. But the operational work is familiar to us. The strategic thinking and planning is not so familiar. So we tend to gravitate to what we know best.
Here’s an example – appropriately disguised. Fred has been a volunteer with his nonprofit for years, and he’s a board member of long standing as well. When he’s working a volunteer shift, other volunteers often come to him with complaints. He enjoys this role of being able to help them, and he truly believes he is helping the agency by taking care of the problems brought to him.
What’s wrong is that this isn’t Fred’s job. There is a staff person who has the responsibility for supervising volunteers, and he is making it impossible for her to do her job. He often isn’t aware of staff directions or plans, so his work to solve volunteers’ problems often creates more challenges.
Simple to solve, you say? Just let Fred know that this is someone else’s job, and he’ll stop, right? That depends. Fred sees himself as the only one who can do this and gains gratification from being in this important role. Any suggestion that he stop makes him angry. The resulting tension undermines even the best-intentioned organizations and boards, so no one says anything to Fred.
If you are Fred, or think you might be, please stop and realize that your board service is not about you. It is about your organization’s mission and how well all of you on the board can work cooperatively to further that mission.
