Issue No. 363 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting warns CEOs and boards—don’t speed-vote an unsuspecting person into the board chair! David McKenna says the board chair “has responsibility for the speed, spacing, and sequence” of the governing process. (That will preach!) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and read recent book reviews on this blog page.
Before Electing Your Board Chair...STOP!
If you’ve been around the nonprofit block for a few years, you’ve certainly experienced this scenario:
“Quick! While Jane is out of the room—I move that she be elected the new chairperson of the board, effective immediately.”
And presto! Without warning, Jane returns to the boardroom only to be handed the gavel—accompanied by the delightful dysfunctions of a nonprofit or church board of directors.
Stop the madness, says David McKenna. His new book should be required reading for all nonprofit board chairs and CEOs. (Chairs of faith-based for-profit companies would also benefit.) Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry, published in March by ECFAPress, is jam-packed with 119 pages of wisdom, insights, and practical help for the board and their board chairs. Example:
McKenna writes that “The chair for a Christ-centered ministry must be called of God as well as elected by the board.” That would eliminate the speed-voting trick that landed Jane at the head of the board table.
“When the time comes for a board to elect a new chair,” McKenna adds, “all business should stop while the members reflect in silence and ask that the Spirit of God might give them discernment in their selection.”
Then this: “In the induction of the chair that follows, there should be the question, ‘Has God called you to this leadership position?’
“The prayer that follows should seal that call with the sacredness of the moment. If done in a consecration service for the board, its officers, and its members, the significance of the chair is communicated throughout the organization.”
McKenna cautions: “Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit that comes with spiritual maturity. It may well be the gift that defines Christ-centered leadership.”
That defining moment—and that powerful question—will eliminate speed-voting and will weed out chair candidates who aspire to resume-building versus Kingdom-building. By the way, that solemn moment suggested by McKenna reminded me of the insightful drama/comedy film, We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam). Read my review.
McKenna has more—and it’s convicting:
• 4 assessment questions for the board chair
• 5 deficient ways that boards elect chairs: Successor, Exemplar, Rotator, Politician, and Dissenter
• Commenting on the Rotator chair scenario, McKenna notes: “The idea is that the ministry can survive incompetence for a short period of time.”
• 1 priority: why being board chair must be that person’s number-one priority
• 9 board chair roles: Missionary, Model, Mentor, Manager, Moderator, Mediator, Monitor, Master, and Maestro
• 3 results when the board chair fails to focus on the clarity of the mission: “mushy, muddled, and almost meaningless”
• 60 words in 30 seconds: Jesus’ elevator speech!
McKenna, retired president of two universities and one seminary, is author of numerous books, including Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations. Read my review to learn how he helps boards segment CEOs into six descriptive categories (several are unsavory!).
In Call of the Chair, McKenna defines an important fork-in-the-road for boards: “A major difference between Christ-centered ministries and for-profit or nonprofit organizations is in the question, ‘Who gets the credit?’”
The Transcendent Moment
Trust me—this book is very, very convicting. I am privileged to serve as board chair at Christian Community Credit Union (and so I run the ad in Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews at no charge). But when I reached the last few pages of the book—ready to wrap it up and move on—I was blown away by “The Transcendent Moment” on pages 116-119.
Whew! I won’t spoil the drama and impact for you—but recently I asked our board’s vice chair, Mike Pate (he has a great radio voice), to read those pages during our agenda segment, “10 Minutes for Governance” (a life-long learning feature at every board meeting). Here’s just one taste:
“…if the board is to rise to its spiritual potential, it needs a chair who brings the personal experience of Pentecost to the leadership of the board.”
Oh, my.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry, by David L. McKenna.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) “Like a one-stringed banjo player, the chair will always sound the note reminding the members that the board’s role is policy, not execution.” How knowledgeable is our staff on the roles and responsibilities of the board—and the board chair?
2) On the policy governance term, “executive limitations,” McKenna illustrates: “In effect, God gave Adam and Eve a policy of executive limitation, saying, ‘Go until I say stop.’ He did not say, ‘Stop until I say go.’” Are the board’s executive limitations crystal clear to your CEO and all staff?
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News Flash: "Millennials Give in Traditional Ways" Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
The Donor Bucket in Mastering the Management Buckets notes Randy Alcorn’s Treasure Principle Key #1: “God owns everything. I’m his money manager.”
So while your development team may be obsessing on the giving habits of Millennials, here are two reminders:
#1. From the Buckets book: “When you spend your days in fundraising, you raise money. But when you invest your life in growing God-honoring stewards, He raises up extravagantly generous givers.” (What’s your approach to Millennials?)
#2. According to the just-released report by ECFA, The Generosity Project, “While millennials are more likely to give online or on social media than older generations, they are as likely as or more likely to support ministries using traditional channels just like prior generations.”
Download a free executive summary from ECFA here.
For more resources on communicating your important mission and message to givers, visit the Donor Bucket webpage.
P.S. Read John’s recent blog on board governance, "The Phone-Book-Size Board Packet Syndrome" from his 2017 series on Max De Pree's book, Called to Serve. Plus, view David Russell's interview with John and Mike Pate for the "No Bad Bosses" podcast (recent Episode #18). Lotsa laughs!
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As a board member and raving fan of Christian Community Credit Union (a non-profit), we proudly list the credit union as a sponsor at no charge.
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