Last week, as we were in the final stages of taking Assessment+ public, I showed a colleague the marketing material we had prepared — and I must admit that, by this time, I liked the package a lot. So I was startled when the colleague gave the material a cursory once-over and tossed it aside saying, “Assessment is too harsh a process. No one is going to want to do this.”

While I might — yes, do — disagree with my colleague, her words make me think hard about where we were. I guess if your primary experience with performance assessment has been either punitive or inconsistent, it’s easy to be dismissive. the hedgepeth group is dedicated to helping boards function more productively and contribute to their own and their organization’s health. Assessment for us has to do with evaluating, that is assigning a value to key indicators of board health and using those values to inform the board’s growth and development.

Many years ago I was in the counseling and career planning business. One of the sayings on the wall in our office was, “If you don’t care where you are going, any road will get you there.” Assessment is about making critical decisions about where the board of directors places its time and energy, and defining the outcomes that are expected. Once those parameters are established, we need to provide consistent, rigorous assessments of both qualitative and quantitative progress toward those goals.

Contrary to being allergic to assessment, assessment becomes a fundamental tool to make sure time, energy, and resources are being wisely and effectively invested. This is particularly true of the modern non-profit board. Increasingly, board members are attracted to organizations that they perceive to be managed effectively and which have a clear sense of the time and talent they need from their board members. Those board members are oriented to results — they want to focus on performance. And they are committed to assessing that performance and assigning value to it.

Assessment processes that are transparent provide valuable data for board decision-making and planning for the future. Healthy assessment processes can provide the focus, immediacy, and direction that boards need to make sound judgments and keep their efforts fresh, focused, and vital.

Fresh, focused, vital efforts are one of the hallmarks of healthy boards, and sound assessment processes offer the most direct route to evaluating progress and achieving success.

A good colleague is fond of saying, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.” When he first said it, I got my hackles up asking, “What ever happened to quality? Don’t we believe in first class performance?”

He’d patiently opine that he saw all too many non-profit professionals who felt that they either had to do everything to perfection — or that they just had to do everything — to the point that they did very little well. The trick, he said, is to learn how to make good, discriminating decisions about where and how you spend your time. For some things, he would say, the only measure of performance is that you get them done. If you don’t do them, the enterprise will suffer, but the addition of large amounts of time and energy to the task will not add appreciable value.

Boards of directors often get caught up in doing many things for their organizations that do not add appreciably to the responsibility of governance — the responsibility that is their first and foremost obligation. Healthy boards are intentional about “majoring in the majors.” That is, they strive to maintain their focus on and allocate their energies to the primary tasks of being a board:

• Making sure that mission and programs are appropriately aligned
• Selecting and evaluating the chief executive
• Enlisting and preparing new board members and nurturing the board’s leadership succession
• Raising the resources needed to carry out the organization’s mission

Healthy boards are very careful to leave the management and operation of the organization to the professionals they choose to lead it.

Healthy boards avoid the temptation to get involved in the management of the organization — even in times of severe stress or disruption. I am on the board of a small non-profit organization that has just gone through a period of severe turbulence. During that time, board members spent thousands of hours seeing to the well-being and defining the future of the organization. As board members we did a great many tasks to help the organization weather the storm. The chair of the board was very careful throughout to make certain that the board delegated, even on an interim basis, the management of the organization to the professional staff. The organization, the board, and the consumers that the organization serves all emerged stronger for keeping the focus of energy on the tasks that mattered.

Healthy boards also are careful not to succumb to the allure of being absentee landlords, putting their names on letterhead and popping in occasionally for a quick visit or committee meeting. Healthy organizations need boards who maintain constant attention to the board’s primary responsibilities. They also need boards who see maintaining fresh ideas and energy as part of the cycle of board and organizational renewal for which they are responsible.

Frankly, I’ve never gotten comfortable with the language of doing anything “poorly.” My colleague’s words, however, have helped me restore balance and focus to my efforts and those of the boards and committees that I serve. Majoring in the majors is a basic board skill that deserves a great deal of time and attention.

This morning after a visit to the dentist, I stopped by one of the stores run by a popular local merchant to pick up several bulk items. As I approached the front of the store with my purchases, I could see two check-out lines, both marked “Closed.” A bit befuddled, I heard a disembodied voice from around the corner say, “You’ll have to come over here to check out.” As I backed my heavily laden cart around the corner to the check out clerk, I could see that I would need to make three very tight 90° turns to get out of the store.

I said (pleasantly, I hope) to the clerk that good customer service would make it easy to get through the check-out line. The clerk responded, “Yes, I know, but this is the way they want it.” I suggested that she mention a change to the manager, and she replied, “They would just get mad at me.”

A small inconvenience and an insecure employee?? Yes. But I happen to know the owner and know that he prides himself on exceptional customer service. So, I’ll mention the incident because the only way the little guy competes with the big box stores is by providing exceptional service.

The incident made me think about how non-profit organizations treat their board members. We recruit successful people who can bring added value to our organizations. Then, all too often, we make it difficult for them to make an impact. Do we convey the message “Check-out line straight ahead. May I help you with those large items?” Or do we say “We’ll take your help around the corner and ask you to negotiate an obstacle course on your way to getting the job done?”

Our board members’ time is the most valuable single asset that they share with us – and there are lots of other organizations that would like to have it. So we must use it well or we will lose it!

Once we recruit board members, do we provide an effective orientation and an ongoing education program to equip them for success?

Do we make their assignments clear and manageable?

Do we provide adequate measures of performance and feedback through their peers?

Do we make board membership a rewarding experience that provides both extrinsic and intrinsic satisfaction?

Do our board members experience a clear run to the check-out line or a series of frustrations that makes them want to “check out?”

What has been your experience? Do you have stories to share about how you have removed barriers to board performance?

This blog is dedicated to improving board performance and, through it, creating healthy, productive organizations. Let’s use this space to carry on a conversation about ways we can eliminate the 90° turns for our board members.