Great Boards Make Connections and Create Platforms

One criterion for high-performing boards is the ability to make connections and create platforms for change. As Leslie Crutchfield and Heather Grant point out in Forces for Good, not-for-profit leaders increasingly realize that their real power lies in the ability to build platforms for connections. And why?

To share ideas and information. To influence others to spread innovative models. To connect the dots across issues, industries, and sectors even as they provide services for their clients and help meet immediate needs.

So, you can advance your mission more effectively when your work is done in concert and in collaboration with similar not-for-profit agencies. It is easier overall to learn innovative practices, expand the resource pie and encourage necessary legislation and policy development when done with related organizations that share your ideals, values, and a connected mission.

But are all agencies and their boards created equally?

Eric Barker in Barking Up the Wrong Tree, the surprising science behind why everything you know about success is (mostly) wrong (a title we recommend), notes that the “Price Law” is a great illustration of just how important feverish work is.

Take the number of top people, or boards, or agencies, in your field. To make the math easy, we’ll just say it’s one hundred. Then take the square root of that number, which in our example is ten. The Price Law says those ten people (or boards, or agencies) will be responsible for 50 percent of the notable achievements in your field. Ten people out of one hundred will produce half the stuff worth paying attention to. And the Price Law holds for every major domain in the arts and sciences.

Share this article with your friends and colleagues!

Have a discussion with your Chief Executive Officer or Executive Director. Have a discussion with your Board Chair and Board as a whole. What are the top-performing organizations in your field? Why? Is this matched by their boards? Who are the top-performing boards in your field? By what criteria?

You can work across your region by connecting with community organizations and boards with related missions.

You can work across your sector by connecting with leading organizations and boards, as long as you know your criteria and work from evidence.

Connect with other boards. Work together. Leverage your knowledge and resources to have an even greater impact.

What are your main “pain points” dealing with making connections?

What advice would be most helpful to you?

And we always assume that you are asking for a friend!

Get in touch. We’ll address your questions and concerns in an upcoming blog post.

Planning for Your Future?

Online Board Improvement Programs with Ken Haycock

The Board Member 101:

Your accelerated path to competence and confidence.

In this one-month course, you will move from feeling reticent and tentative to competent and confident, asking good questions and making great contributions. The course complements and reinforces your on-site orientation and opens new channels of communication and discussion. Four weeks. Two brief video lessons (watch at your convenience) per week plus downloadable handouts. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Register Now.

The Board Leader Academy:

A step-by-step guide to higher performance and impact.

Our spotlight course is designed for CEOs/Executive Directors, Board Chairs, and those who are interested in leadership positions on not-for-profit, for-impact boards. Six weeks. Three brief video lessons with handouts per week (watch at your convenience) plus additional downloadable resources. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Register now.     

P.S. May I ask a tiny favour? Would you mind sharing this blog with one person? I would love it. You can post the links in your Facebook Groups, LinkedIn or even send an email.