I was recently asked to talk about the key success strategies of highly effective non-profit boards. As a person who's worked on and for non-profit boards for more than thirty years, it's a subject I care about deeply and I've given it a lot of thought.

Here are the four success strategies I consider most essential for non-profit boards to be effective:

1. Recognize that as a board you represent the needs and desires of your cause communities.

Non-profits bring together people who care about causes, such as overcoming disease, solving homelessness, or supporting economic development in rural communities.

Highly effective boards work hard to engage representatives of their cause or stakeholder communities into key portions of their ongoing strategic planning. As board leaders, they appreciate the value of this input. The more the people who care about the cause are engaged in strategic planning, the greater the success of the non-profit organization. It's that simple.

But highly effective boards don't stop there. Once they've gathered input from key representatives, they share the strategic direction and targets approved by the board with the organization as a whole. As progress occurs, they report on that too.

Highly effective boards provide accountability from start to end. They keep everyone informed of decisions and results.

2. Seek input on strategic direction from key stakeholders within your cause communities.

Input from key stakeholders feeds the board’s go-forward strategic direction and keeps the non-profit organization on track. This strategic direction is set in place by documents such as Just Cause, Vision, Mission, Corporate Values, Goals and Objective statements. 

Highly effective boards use these documents to communicate their approved strategic direction and performance targets to their cause community as a whole, and to management within the organization.

As a result, management has a clear understanding of the performance measures for success. They know how and when these measures will be taken, and they keep track of how well the organization is doing in meeting its targets.

3. Take care to attract the right leaders to your board, committees and management positions.

Highly effective boards know their success depends on recruiting, training and motivating the best people to their board, committees and senior management positions. As John Maxwell says, "Leaders become great not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others."

It doesn't stop with recruitment and training. Highly effective boards also actively work a plan of succession for their board and committee members. They give them programs of governance and leadership training. 

They also pay careful attention to the continued development of senior management’s leadership skills. Management is encouraged to lead and develop staff, so that everyone will work together for the success of the cause and collectively reach for exceptional results. This is the magic.

4. Continually challenge your board, committees and management towards higher levels of achievement.  

Highly effective boards take their leadership role seriously. They set a vision that is bold for the sake of the cause. What is more, they back up this bold vision with SMART goals that they communicate to the entire cause community.

SMART goals are Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based. An attainable goal is aggressive, yet not out of reach. Goals are relevant only if they serve the needs of the cause community.

Highly effective boards develop and implement the strategies for continually developing their team. This includes the board, committees, management and staff. Together, a well-developed team carries the organization to higher levels of results. 

Call to Action:

At the next regular or planning meeting for your board, discuss the following:

1. How effective is your board at leveraging these proven leadership strategies for achieving higher levels of success?
2. In order to improve the effectiveness of your board, what leadership strategies should your board initiate or continue?

Are you ready to make an impact? Check out our solutions 5 Secrets to an Effective Board Meeting and Being an Effective Board Member.

Your friend,
Jon Close, UpCloseTeam