Using Social Norms and Situation Change to Make Your Board Packet Relevant
A few weeks before each board meeting, a buzz consumes your office as you prepare. The “board packet” drives work; other projects are sidelined so your office can send the packets out the requisite number of days before each meeting. Regardless, in the meeting someone will say, “It would really be nice if we could see (fill in the blank).”
Being responsive and transparent, you or your leadership agrees to have it next time. And—you guessed it! Your board packet grows by another two pages.
Your work often won’t be read before the next board meeting. The first review of your work will be while they sit in front of you. So, you or the board member presenting will have to read the board packet to them. It will be on slides in a PowerPoint, but your presentation is, in effect, story time. But, unlike children sitting enrapt in a circle on the floor, some will fall asleep. How do we break the cycle?
Sometimes the situation changes when a new board chair takes over. Or maybe a new chief executive officer or executive director takes the chair and is granted a few months of “do it your way.” But that isn’t a solution. The problem isn’t the board packet. It is the amount of information delivered in a way they can’t absorb in a time frame they can’t handle (during the board meeting).
What Drives Your Board Member Behavior?
In the part of our brain that can talk, here’s why board members typically ask for more data and information:
“I don’t know what my job is as a board member. I am confused, so I’m collecting more information hoping to get it right.”
“I am anxious and don’t want to look unprepared or uncaring. Let me ask a lot of questions and ask for more data.”
“I wonder if they have thought about this, and if they haven’t, they will when I ask for it.”
But most parts of our brain can’t talk. By that, we mean that most of what is going on in there is unconscious. We are motivated by inscrutable “biases” that push and prod our behaviors this way or that. Take a look at the Cognitive Bias Codex for why your board members act as they do in meetings.
When people have too much information to absorb, here are the known biases that drive behavior:
We notice things already primed in memory or repeated often.
Bizarre, funny, visually striking, or anthropomorphic things stick out more than non-bizarre/unfunny things.
We notice when something has changed.
We are drawn to details that confirm our own existing beliefs.
We notice flaws in others more easily than we notice flaws in ourselves.
If you look at the Codex itself, you’ll note that each category contains multiple biases. These biases can happen concurrently or singly; some can crowd others out. These are just the ones we know about. These are driving the behaviors you are seeing, all unconscious to your board member.
Here’s the fact: there is nothing you can do about unconscious biases. Knowing a bias exists doesn’t mean you can change it. But what you can do is manage the situation. One way to do this is to establish the “social norms” for board meetings. Social norms are unspoken rules that say, “People like us do things like this.” In this case, “Board members like us (act like this).”
Board Pressure: Situations and Social Norms
Changes that can help:
Whenever a board member asks for more information, ask, “Share more about that. I want to be sure I fully understand what additional information you would like and how it will help you as a board member.” This question and setting the pattern of asking it will have two effects. First, it will draw forth more information and get to the right question so you can answer the real question. Just as importantly, it will help you manage expectations about analysis and determine if the information is material in decisions the board needs to make or if it is operational. YOU are looking at that information, but the board doesn’t need to. Second, if they know you will ask this question, they will be thoughtful in asking it.
Include summary documentation ahead of time and in person. This will help them feel more confident and that the board packet is consumable. As overwhelming as it is for you to prepare, it is similarly overwhelming for them to consume. Consider a dashboard that visually shows progress toward goals for strategic initiatives instead of a written update. Have a financial overview and snapshot summarizing the financials the treasurer will review. Template department reports so board members can get used to the flow of information.
Give them a board packet ahead of time in a format that tracks open rates. Various platforms achieve this, including Office 365 OneDrive. Some board management platforms may give you a more in-depth view of how much time they spent in the document, like Zeck. With that information, if—for example—one week before the board meeting, you see a significant number of board members have not read the packet, send an email to all confirming that they can open and give the statistics (not names) on how many have not reviewed the packet. You are creating a social norm of “I have read the board packet.” John Mize, EVP Business Development at the Chron’s and Colitis Foundation , said, “By posting material in advance and relying upon both committee chairs and committee meetings by the time we come to the full board meeting most board members are caught up to speed and in a position to deliver valuable advice and strategic guidance.”
To go further in this manner, agree with the board that questions about information in the packet be submitted before the board meeting so you or the relevant board member can come with answers. Again, create a social norm around this by stating, “50% of board members have submitted questions. We anticipate other questions before the meeting so we can prepare.”
Engage your board chair in referencing and encouraging all members to come prepared by reading all materials. If the chair isn’t comfortable, ask the governance committee chair to discuss.
Include this in board position descriptions/responsibilities: “It is an expectation that all board members spend the necessary time before the board meeting reviewing all materials provided so that meeting time is maximized with discussion and strategy.”
Final thoughts... While a board member’s preparation by reading the board packet may not be the biggest issue you face, it indicates their engagement. Are your board meetings genuinely engaging? Are you encouraging board members to come prepared to debate, discuss, and vote on important issues facing your organization? Or are your committee and Executive Committee reports nothing more than actions for board members to approve? At the end of the day, are your board members truly interested in governance and the role of board members?
Working with and truly engaging boards is a joy and a source of continuous learning. If we can help, call us. We want you, your board, AND your organization to be successful.
Anne-Marie Forbes is a nonprofit executive with deep management experience having served in top leadership posts at Autism Speaks, Alzheimer’s Association, and the National MS Society. Now she consults at Turnkey For Good. Anne Marie drives results through strategic planning and organizational alignment. She is skilled in engaging board members and community volunteers, leading staff teams and seamlessly blending multiple initiatives. She creates innovative fundraising programs that serve diverse populations as a trusted leader and visionary with a proven record of innovation.
Katrina founded Turnkey For Good in 1989. She has grown the company and the company’s ideas since. Turnkey and Katrina occupy a solid thought leadership space in the nonprofit industry, through continued study of the nonprofit environment, constant outreach and self-improvement through collaboration with quality leadership in nonprofit C-suite roles, and the academic study of human decision-making and psychological biases. Over 34 years Katrina’s hands-on and mind-in work style has built a cache of experience unmatched in the industry.