Decision-making by effective Boards of Directors

Greetings!

While I am participating in a group effort to forward to the CoC Governing Board some suggested Charter changes, I wanted to also pass along some insights  that don’t really have a place in the Charter.  In fact, they probably conflict with some of what the Charter describes.  But I want to offer them anyway, as they come from many years of serving on boards like yours.


The most effective boards in existence are those which are designed to receive well-researched and presented information and recommendations, and which prepare board members to ask challenging questions.    

How do you get well-researched and presented information and recommendations?  The best of the staff who support our country’s decision-makers are those who excel in establishing solicitation and vetting processes which produce the exact amount of information necessary to make clear and comprehensive decisions. The information, while essential for design and initiation, is integral to evaluation and course correction.  It is constantly being produced, and easily understandable and available.  The process of examining what is being undertaken and accomplished results in a greater chance of simplifying both the problems being addressed and the solutions being suggested. 


The effectiveness of these boards is not dependent on the the degree of topical knowledge of the members, nor on the amount of time spent by members doing personal research.

How does what is described above reduce the necessity for members with topical knowledge and member personal research?  Staff are presented with opportunities to describe and present information easier for members to understand and find useful.  If they have need for independent review of the materials, such advice is easier to obtain from non-members outside the organization.  


The amount of staff and work time supporting the development of the meeting materials does not contribute to the quality of the decision-making.

How does this reduce the amount of staff needed for meeting materials development, and improve decision-making quality?  The need for staff to become experts in every field, or translators of complex issues, is reduced.  The ability of the members to receive independent validation of the decisions made is enhanced, and the consistency of rigor applied is reassuring.


Program improvements occur by collaborative, consistently-applied, evaluations of actions supporting the decision-making.  Teams which share common goals and apply different strategies to accomplish them, are usually inspired by their colleagues.  This is especially true when they work under common degrees of support, expectations, and urged to learn from one another.

The Sonoma County Continuum of Care exhibits little application of these lessons, and would benefit from a discussion of how its decision-making could be shaped to take more advantage of them.  If you are interested in exploring this, feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Gregory Fearon 

For more posts containing information on California's Homeless Systems Continuums of Care, click here


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Gathering and displaying information about homeless facilities and services in Sonoma County

Third-time boast still doesn't make it true