05/24/2023

Moving a Board Into Action

Here's how to do so

Every association wants a dynamic, agile, future-focused board. The trick is figuring out how to develop one.

One theme that emerged as I was working on stories for the latest Associations Now Deep Dive on leadership is that acting fast isn’t necessarily an asset. Many boards had to take decisive action in a hurry as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. But that can come at the expense of a strategic emphasis on long-term goals. As consultant Cynthia Mills, CMC, FASAE, CAE, said, boards need to "drop the crisis lens but keep the leadership behavior that keeps the board at high-level focus."

That means taking a longer view, and a little more patience. A good example of that focus is a recent governance shift at the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards: I wrote about how CLARB’s board had become constrained by outdated requirements that limited its flexibility and diversity. Following a years-long process, in 2019 it approved a governance structure that widens its pipeline and is more inviting to a wider range of people in the profession.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.