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Technology Best Practicesfor Governance ProfessionalsHow does your organization stack up?Non-profit boards have always needed someone to plan, keep track of meetings and assist board members.Originally this role was performed by someone who was a member of the board, often called “board secretary”,or “board administrator”. But board work has evolved over time; governing in the digital age means that allorganizations and their boards must keep up with news, risks and opportunities that arrive in a nanosecond. Theonly way boards can keep pace is with the support of modern-day governance professionals.Today’s governance professionals now fill an essential, strategic role within organizations, providing the skills,competencies, savvy and dedication needed to support boards and leadership in pursuit of governanceexcellence. Wearing many hats, they help source key insights and analytics to inform board decisions, enableteam-building efforts among directors, and facilitate strong communications and strategic partnerships betweensenior managers and directors.Critical to the work of the modern-day governance professional is the essential technology tools that make theirsuccess possible. In this guide, we detail the core responsibilities of today’s governance professionals with a lookat how effective organizations are using BoardEffect to establish a new standard of excellence.In general, core responsibilities for the non-profit board’s modern governance professional fall into the followingthree categories:1.Board Education2.Board Meetings and Practices3.Communications and Relationships
BOARDEDUCATION Orientation. Board professionals get new directors off to the rightstart by developing a structured orientation process that includesknowledge building about industry trends and issues, goodgovernance practices and information about the organization itself. Ongoing Development System. It is a well-known tenet that aneducated board is a higher performing board. Board professionalsdevelop an organized system to ensure that directors participatein ongoing learning that keeps them up-to-date on key industryissues. Organizational Insider Insights. Board chairs and CEOs rely onthe modern governance professional to have his or her “ear to theground” on issues and events in the organization so that boardmembers are not taken unaware.Technology Best Practice Says Providing key documents and materials for education and onboarding is critical. With BoardEffect, acentralized Resource Library enables governance professionals to store important notices, alerts,onboarding and educational materials, and then feature link to the documents in the WelcomeMessage or News section to increase their visibility.“ We were able to complete orientation andtraining via our platform. We sent onemessage to direct new board membersinto the platform, rather than having tocommunicate back and forth throughout theprocess, and they were able to access all theinfo they needed in advance.”Becky Wolf,Director of Finance, Draper Holdings
BOARD MEETINGSAND PRACTICES Board Roles and Authorities. Defined roles, responsibilities,expectations and designated authorities are critical to effectiveboard functioning. Board professionals ensure that there arecurrent board job descriptions and a decision authority matrix inplace. Board Meetings and Agendas. Modern governance professionalsare experienced in how to work with chairs and executives todevelop well-designed agendas and implement meeting processesand procedures that enables the board to be most productive andeffective in its time together. Board Committee Support. Board committees are the enginesthat fuel efficient board work, and governance professionalsplay essential roles in populating committees with experts aswell as ensuring that committee meetings result in the deep-divediscussions and recommendations that the board relies on. Board Competencies and Succession Planning. Modern boardsselect and evaluate directors based on the competencies,experiences and perspectives needed to foster robust discussionand decision making. The board professional develops a database to track competencies and an ongoing roster of potentialcandidates for board succession. Board Documentation and Compliance. Governanceprofessionals are the custodians of board and committee meetingminutes and ensure that all ongoing compliance activities areconducted and documented. Board Assessment. Governance professionals ensure that boardsconduct assessments on a regular basis and ensure that resultsare used to systematically improve the board’s functioning andeffectiveness.“ BoardEffect has even streamlined the board meeting itself,” sharesTeti. “We have voting items first, then they go to managementreports. It’s easy to follow along. And one of the most positivethings is if there’s a last-minute change, it can be easily made andall our directors will be updated.”Judi Teti,Executive Assistant to the Office of the President,Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union
Technology Best Practice Says Effective governance professionals should be able to prepare for meetings from any location, workwithin a secure environment, and facilitate regular self-assessments for the board. In the BoardEffectplatform, they can use the Scheduler feature to help with coordinating and rescheduling meetings.They can also decentralize and streamline the process of assembling Meeting Materials usingContributors and Approval Workflow, assign user permissions for certain materials, and useintegrations to embed a video conference link.“ We recently conducted a board self-evaluationsurvey on BoardEffect, and it was easy to use.The function enabled us to develop quicklya professional looking report on results thatincluded the details we needed.”JoAnn Cragoe,Executive Assistant to the President,American Public Media
COMMUNICATIONS& RELATIONSHIPS Board Chair – CEO – Director Relationships. Governanceprofessionals are often the “linchpin” in facilitating timely formaland informal communication between the board chair, CEO anddirectors, enabling the board’s culture and ability to address issuestogether. They are a neutral party when board political issues arise,but are vocal advocates for governance best practices. Board Chair Support. Governance professionals play a key rolein enabling the chair to perform at his or her best through tools,practices and conversation. Savvy governance professionals knowhow to support board chairs without getting “in between” the CEOand board chair relationship. Director Point-of-Contact. Directors rely on governanceprofessionals to be accessible and be a resource to individualboard members, educating, spotting issues, and identifyingsensitivities.Technology Best Practice Says Having the right tools to facilitate conversations, ensure all parties are supported, and maintain focuson good governance practice is essential for the governance professional. The BoardEffect platformenables users to create dedicated Workrooms for certain topics or initiatives, where members canutilize Polls, Surveys, and other core collaboration features to streamline decision-making.“ BoardEffect has really allowed me toautomate those tasks, and it has made spacefor me to do the deeper work of this work. Soto really be able to focus on governance, toreally look at best practices.”Felicia Fett,Board of Directors Liaison, NationalAssociation of Secondary School Principals
PURSUING GOVERNANCE EXCELLENCE:WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?Now that you’ve dived deeper into the intricacies and demands of the modern-day governance professional’srole, it’s time to consider the next steps in your journey to governance excellence. As you think about your currentprocesses, daily challenges and obstacles to achieving success in your role, we recommend connecting with aBoardEffect advisor to help you think through practical solutions and pinpoint major gaps you may be missing.CONTACT YOUR ADVISOR FOR MORE INFORMATION:Call: (866) 966-4987Email: [email protected] 2020 BoardEffect
Executive Assistant to the President, American Public Media “BoardEffect has really allowed me to automate those tasks, and it has made space for me to do the deeper work of this work. So to really be able to focus on governance, to really look at best practices.” Felicia Fett, Board of Directors Liaison, National Association of Secondary School Principals COMMUNICATIONS & RELATIONSHIPS .
