One of the most common mistakes I find when boards seek new members is that they focus heavily on recruitment without dedicating the same energy to orientation. Yes, it’s important to find the right leaders for your board but it doesn’t end there. You also need to make sure your new members get off to a great start.
A carefully thought-out orientation process benefits new members and contributes to high-performing boards. When onboarding your new board members, these five key elements will help ensure success:
1. Provide a thorough overview of the organization. New board members can’t truly be successful unless you give them the tools and information that they need to do their jobs. Your comprehensive overview should include everything from your organization’s mission, vision, and values to a review of your programs and services, finances, the strategic plan, board policies and procedures and anything else that will help a new board member to hit the ground running. Just be sure to break it into manageable sections with plenty of time for questions.
2. Support diverse learners by varying your orientation approach. Before you hand someone a stack of reading, keep in mind that only 65% of the population are visual learners. Consider using videos, presentations, site visits, and even games to orient new members. Some of these materials might even do double duty as promotional materials for your organization! Also, be mindful of people who need accommodations, such as regular breaks or video captions. Make sure to ask new board members how they learn best and what accommodations, if any, they might need.
3. Make it social. It’s important to nurture relationships between new and existing board members outside of meetings. That might mean carving out time to socialize before or after a meeting to give people time to get to know each other. While this may sound optional, I’ve found that boards as a governing body can struggle without investing in building these connections. Changes in a group’s membership often change the group dynamic, which can directly affect the board’s productivity. Building social connections between board members helps to build trust between members, and trust is critical to high performing teams.
4. Provide a “Board Buddy” or mentor. New member questions are bound to come up and a Board Buddy or experienced board mentor can play a vital role in explaining everything from a report detail to the back story behind a decision that was made last year. Some boards pair people for a full year while other boards rotate mentors, matching new members with a different person each quarter. Just make sure that the mentoring role and expectations are clear for existing board members so new members get the help they need.
5. Recognize that learning and retention take time. The more that you can do to reinforce what you’ve shared in orientation, the better. For example, you can introduce a discussion about fundraising at a meeting by first reminding the board of its past commitment in that area. Or provide quick context before an update on progress toward the strategic plan. Who knows? It might even help your existing board members gain a deeper understanding of their roles!
Want to chat about your own orientation process? Contact us now!