Productive Board/Staff Partnerships

Recently, I responded to a question about the top characteristics of a highly productive Board/CEO partnership and what differentiates a productive Board/CEO partnership from dysfunctional ones. An My response was simple and I felt it would probably be useful:

Top characteristics of partnership:

1. Consensus about what constitutes success via a working long range strategic plan that drives the annual operating plan.
2. Clarity of roles and responsibilities of both the board and the CEO.
3. Confidence in the competence of your partners (board in staff and staff in board).
4. Informed, knowledge-based decision making.

Differences between productive board/CEO partnerships and dysfunctional ones:

1. Everything! You can feel it in the room and see it on agendas and in minutes.
2. Expectations are articulated in advance in productive boards.
3. When egos of individual board members (or CEO) or personal needs, wants, preferences take precedence over the organization’s goals, you can expect the infighting to begin.

If an incoming leader wants to be King/Queen and expects the CEO to be in charge of the serfs, these arguments may not make any inroads. It might be more productive to describe the likely outcome of a poor partnership including a situation where no one wants to work there, be on the board or engage in the association because it’s not enjoyable or meaningful work.