Chapter 10
Feedback
“If you don’t get feedback from your performers and your audience, you’re going to be working in a vacuum.”
--Peter Maxwell Davies
Lesson 10: Boards must invite feedback to improve performance
The late Ed Koch, outspoken Mayor of NYC from 1978-1989, was famous for his question, “How am I doing?” Every board should be asking a similar question, “How are we doing?” Unfortunately, most boards have no formal or informal reporting mechanism. Neither do most boards have a way to share past experiences with present volunteer s— experiences that could spare them from making the same mistakes. Instead, the same issues keep recurring, and the same conflicts often go unresolved from one term to the next.
To be effective, your board needs a way to gather …show more content…
Despite the lack of involvement, I believed strongly in its mission and wanted to help the youth in my community, so I agreed to serve as Vice President. Filled with enthusiasm and fresh ideas, I truly believed I could be a kind of “spark plug” and help move the organization forward. The sad truth was that my “revitalization” efforts (which was the name I gave my initiative) could not change a thing. Here are some reasons why.
Case 10B: Apathy
If board members aren’t coming to meetings, you’ve got to find out why. The problem with this volunteer board was that no one was asking why. In fact, after years of apathy, the President didn’t even send out meeting agendas anymore. The secretary didn’t send out minutes either. In short, no one was communicating with anyone about anything!
If this sounds familiar, I recommend that you ask for a copy of the last meeting agenda and try to figure out what’s been going on. You’ve got to communicate on a regular basis with your board members, including sending out the agenda and
Feedback
“If you don’t get feedback from your performers and your audience, you’re going to be working in a vacuum.”
--Peter Maxwell Davies
Lesson 10: Boards must invite feedback to improve performance
The late Ed Koch, outspoken Mayor of NYC from 1978-1989, was famous for his question, “How am I doing?” Every board should be asking a similar question, “How are we doing?” Unfortunately, most boards have no formal or informal reporting mechanism. Neither do most boards have a way to share past experiences with present volunteer s— experiences that could spare them from making the same mistakes. Instead, the same issues keep recurring, and the same conflicts often go unresolved from one term to the next.
To be effective, your board needs a way to gather …show more content…
Despite the lack of involvement, I believed strongly in its mission and wanted to help the youth in my community, so I agreed to serve as Vice President. Filled with enthusiasm and fresh ideas, I truly believed I could be a kind of “spark plug” and help move the organization forward. The sad truth was that my “revitalization” efforts (which was the name I gave my initiative) could not change a thing. Here are some reasons why.
Case 10B: Apathy
If board members aren’t coming to meetings, you’ve got to find out why. The problem with this volunteer board was that no one was asking why. In fact, after years of apathy, the President didn’t even send out meeting agendas anymore. The secretary didn’t send out minutes either. In short, no one was communicating with anyone about anything!
If this sounds familiar, I recommend that you ask for a copy of the last meeting agenda and try to figure out what’s been going on. You’ve got to communicate on a regular basis with your board members, including sending out the agenda and