When a client agreed several months ago that they wanted to build a power Board of twenty-five, it seemed like this would take years. It turned out to not be so difficult. In September, this agency “could hold their board meetings in a telephone booth”, and now there will be 17 members at our meeting this week.
The quality of the new Board members is astonishing. We now have business leaders, entertainment industry personalities, a head of a chain of restaurants, people who have won community leadership awards, a head of a human resources firm, and several top attorneys.
How did this happen so quickly?
1. The organization held a number of cultivation events, followed up with the attendees, and sold their cause. When they asked people to join the Board, those individuals said yes.
2. The agency’s cause is compelling, and used this to present their mission in a very exciting video and through the testimonies of the young people their organization focuses on helping.
3. This created word of mouth pass-a-long. People began talking to their friends about the organization, it’s mission and it’s impact. Soon, people were asking to join the Board.
At a meeting this week, the founders of the agency couldn’t believe they actually were going to 17 people at the meeting, with 5 more being nominated soon. Their goal of 25 members is in close reach!
We just held a Board Development Committee meeting. The meeting itself was remarkable. The current officers got together beforehand to carefully plan the Board meeting and tweak the original rather long agenda to keep it within 90 minutes. No longer! That was the commitment to our Board members.
Then, each presenter was contacted and told to make their reports sharp and short, 5 minutes were allowed each. They were asked to emphasize those items that would provoke discussion. New Board members would introduce themselves before making their reports, which will save spending a lot of time at the beginning of the meeting.
It was decided that in a situation where more discussion was needed, the President would send the item back to the committee. And the President was given a tip sheet on how he can control the meeting while making it fun, yet still encouraging discussion without letting the time run away.
These are great strides and everyone’s really proud of themselves. In a couple of days we will have our first meeting of the new Board, and we’ll see how it goes.
That will be my next Journal entry.
Tags: Barrie, Board meeting, journal