The Board Chair Handbook, Second Edition - Introduction

As the chair of a nonprofit board of directors, you play a significant role in ensuring the organization’s health and well-being. The board chair’s obligation to stakeholders is to facilitate the work of the board in the context of effective leadership and good governance. The guiding principle is what’s best for the organization. In this context, every board chair puts his or her own positive stamp on the board’s culture, work, and impact. But many of us have served on boards where the chair’s personality and personal agenda determine how the board conducts itself and what the outcomes look like. A challenge for new board chairs is to accept the power and authority of the position while putting personal interests aside in favor of the good of the organization.

In a practical sense, what does this mean for the person stepping into the board chair position? Where do you seek knowledge and guidance to help you fulfill this role? My experience with nonprofit boards as a consultant, trainer, board member, and board chair leads me to observe that there is no universal orientation or preparation. Filled with great passion and good intentions, you are expected to step into this role and know what to do. Service as a board member or committee chair does not necessarily translate into competency as a board chair. You will certainly build on what you’ve learned, but you’ll need more than that to succeed. The unique role of the board chair requires the application of new knowledge and skills or, for others, the application of knowledge and skills in a new way.

The second edition of The Board Chair Handbook focuses on helping board chairs carry out their responsibilities for the good of the organization. Whether you are a seasoned board chair wanting to brush up and learn something new, an incoming board chair seeking knowledge and skills, or a person considering the possibility of becoming a board chair, this book is intended to be user friendly and practical. The guidance will also be useful to chief executives, other management personnel who interact with the board chair (including operations officers, development directors, financial officers, and marketing directors), and consultants who work with nonprofit organizations.

This book is organized into three sections:

• The Foundation: Building Individual Capacity (part I) focuses on preparing to take on the tasks and responsibilities of the board chair, beginning with an exploration of the personal decision to accept the job and covering roles, relationships, and skills.
• The Journey: Optimizing the Work of the Board (part II) deals with the application of strong leadership and sound governance practices with a focus on board process and board tasks.
• The Finale: Creating Endings and New Beginnings (part III) addresses how to prepare for the end of your term as board chair, the importance of closure, and answering, “what’s next?”

Each chapter ends with a Board Chair’s To Do List — brief reminders of key tasks to help you do your job effectively. Appendix 1 provides a summary of these lists. Appendix 2 provides sample agendas and letters, which are also available for download. Throughout the book, you’ll see board statistics and quotes from board members and chief executives. These data were collected during the Nonprofit Governance Index 2007 survey, and they provide interesting insight into board service.

Readers of the first edition of The Board Chair Handbook, by William M. Dietel and Linda R. Dietel, published in 2001, will recognize some material in this revised edition. Special thanks to the authors for their contributions. That book, which sold more than 3,500 copies, ultimately helped thousands of organizations as their board chairs increased their understanding of their roles and responsibilities and learned techniques to make their boards more efficient and effective. Many thanks to colleagues and friends who read early drafts of my manuscript and provided helpful feedback, and to the diligent editors at BoardSource, whose contributions were invaluable in helping me find my voice in writing this book.

As you embark on the journey of leading a board, remember to build on your experiences, practice humility, follow ethical principles, and model an openness to learning that will make you the best board chair possible. When you accept the job, you enter into an obligatory relationship with the organization that is fulfilled as you adopt and model effective leadership and governance practices. Coupling these skills and practices with passion and good intentions makes a winning combination for any board chair and, ultimately, for the organization.

From The Board Chair Handbook, Second Edition.

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