By Dan Busby, President, ECFA

Ever feel like the ministry’s governing board could be functioning more effectively? You have read the books on governance. You are on information overload.

Start by stopping—stopping to take inventory of the board’s current culture and then introducing gradual changes—one step at a time. How could the board begin to make changes, modeling Christ in a more significant way?

While there is no governance “success sequence”—what to do first and second—here are some insights that can help a board examine its current culture and determine positive governance steps that will achieve noticeable improvement.

A change in governance culture will not happen unless the board is in a season of change. Boards have seasons just as ministries have seasons. You can’t force a board to change when the board is not in a season of change—you can only help board members want to change. Pressing too hard for major governance changes when the board is not in a season of change is a recipe for governance disaster.

How can you discern if a board is in a season of change? Ask the Holy Spirit to help your discernment in this area. A spirit of change may have arrived with the retirement or terming off of some former board members and the addition of a few new board members. Or a significant event—internal or external may have occurred, causing the board to refocus its priorities.

• Make a list of possible governance culture changes. What are the most significant changes that could be made in the board’s governance culture? Identify them and include them on a list for the future.
• Draft or update your board policy manual. Perhaps there is no board policy manual. This project could take a year or two or three. It will take some serious planning to get the ball rolling on this.
• Evaluate frequency of meetings and structure of the board. Does the executive committee meet so frequently that other board members feel displaced and consider the executive committee a “super committee?”

Does the board have a high number of committees? Is there openness to reduce the number of standing committees and introduce the concept of task forces?

Start with a few modest changes. Whatever the potential changes, start with a list of culture changes needed and balance the importance of the change with the likelihood of the board approving the change.

Continual governance change only occurs with continuous introspection. Even if a board is performing effectively, continuous review of governance practices is necessary to keep positive changes moving forward. How does your board do this? You can do this by completing a simple survey at the conclusion of each board meeting.

Changes in governance culture may represent breakthroughs. Only God knows which governance change or combination of changes will result in a major breakthrough. How will you know when you see it? Here are just a few of the telltale signs:

• The Holy Spirit brings unity. Only the Spirit of God can unite the hearts and minds of ministry leadership and board members—before, during, and after board meetings.
• The board prays and prays often. Beyond praying to begin and close board meetings, does the board frequently stop to pray—prayers of praise as evidences of God’s blessing are acknowledged prayers for discernment as the board considers major issues?
• The executive director and the board are on the same page. It is not that everyone starts at the same position on every issue, but after an interchange of viewpoints, the executive director and the board find common ground.
• The board feels respected. Their input is sought and valued. They receive thorough board materials in adequate time to review them before the board meeting.
• There is a pyramiding effect. As ideas are exchanged between the executive director and the board and between board members, there is a compounding, a pyramiding of thought so the board’s final conclusion is much stronger than the initial proposal.

The goal is progress, not perfection. Do you have a perfect board? I have seen some a few outstanding boards, a few poor boards, and many in between—but never a perfect one. My prayer is that your board is moving forward—one step at a time!