March 19, 2010

Every board has one main purpose—to make and execute quality decisions. However, even the best board can be derailed by personality clashes or inherent flaws in its system. All too often, many boards, which are entrusted to govern substantial organizations and oversee significant mandates and large budgets, do the following: act impulsively, amateurishly and childishly; display no strength in the face of vocal minorities; place narrow interests ahead of community interests; and invent solutions without first defining the problems.

What makes boardroom problems especially puzzling is the fact that, as individuals, many board members are educated, accomplished and highly dedicated to their organizations; some are prominent and respected community leaders. But put them together in a setting where they must share decision-making powers with others, and you often get trouble.

As a board effectiveness consultant and meeting-management expert, Eli Mina has first-hand experience in dealing with the wide variety of problems that boards face. As he states in his latest book, 101 Boardroom Problems and how to Solve Them (AMACOM 2008), “I had fun advising boards on demystifying the rules of order and using them sensibly and intelligently to facilitate progress while protecting basic rights. While doing this work, I discovered another boardroom problem: excessive reliance on rules of order. Boards become entangled in motions, amendments, and other formal procedures and are thereby distracted from core issues. They lose precious time, and their capacity to make quality decisions is eroded.”

His book offers readers practical tools to prevent and deal with every difficult situation, from collective impatience and indecision to rivalries and conflicts of interest. Mina shows readers how to identify board dysfunctions and the damage they inflict, deal with boardroom problems with confidence, increase the likelihood of their board achieving the right decisions, minimize or eliminate flawed decisions, and make a board more credible and trustworthy with its community and stakeholders.

In the book’s introduction, Mina writes, “Before becoming a consultant on meetings and effective decision making, I was employed as an engineer. My motto then was: Silence is golden. Keeping quiet in meetings was safe and risk-free, and rarely did anyone solicit my ideas anyway. Had I shared my input, however, it might have improved the quality of my team’s decisions and reduced its mistakes. Silence is a common and highly damaging boardroom problem, one that increases risk and diminishes opportunities.”

Below are five substantive criteria for board decision making, excepted from 101 Boardroom Problems and how to Solve Them:

1. Strategic. The decision supports the attainment of the organization’s mission, vision and strategic goals. It transcends short-term crises and narrow issues and addresses broad and long-term priorities.

2. Informed. The decision is based on knowledge and objective analysis of benefits vs. risks. It is not tainted by anger, envy, narrow interests, pre-meeting promises, conflicts of interest, and so on.

3. Smart. The decision employs creativity and innovation. It seeks to optimize the use of human, financial, and other resources and maximize the benefits over time.

4. Balanced and Fair. The decision achieves an appropriate balance among the needs of the whole organization, the needs of individuals and constituent units, and any other legitimate needs.

5. Sustainable, Affordable and Legal. The decision is realistic and can be implemented with available and reasonably foreseen means. It complies with legal requirements, bylaws and policies.