The museum executive’s effective relationship with the board engenders healthy governance and strong organizations.
This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s September/October 2024 issue, a benefit of AAM membership.
As I sat at a table at a local breakfast restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, I looked forward to my meeting with the board chair for the National WWI Museum and Memorial. When he arrived, we talked through strategic opportunities, organizational alignment, and managing financial stresses. The organization had ambitious growth plans. The board chair was equally ambitious and willing to explore how his connections and relationships could be leveraged. We talked about board members and how they could work in ways that empowered the mission. With a keen eye for marketing and brand-building opportunities, we discussed the organization’s future in this meeting and every month we met after. He is a thought partner, sounding board, and mentor, and his passion inspires our board members and other community leaders.
Over my 30-plus-years professional career, I’ve served on and worked for many boards, and they have been deeply rewarding experiences. I’ve been able to learn from community and business leaders, which has shaped and informed my own leadership. I’ve worked with boards in Europe, Australia, and the United States, and partnered with boards in countries in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
An effective partnership between the board and the museum leader can only benefit the organization. Despite this potential, stories abound of dysfunctional relationships between the two. A strong and productive relationship is built on trust and the ability to balance strategic guidance with operational independence, and achieving this balance takes work.
Drawing on my own varied experiences, along with discussions and workshops with colleagues in the nonprofit sector, I identify some opportunities and strategies for effective board relationships and healthy governance. You will notice that this list of core responsibilities differs from a “management committee” and from what some board members may consider their essential tasks.
Preparing for Board Success
Board members are often successful professionals and leaders in the community. Many will have served, or are serving, on other boards. Others are entrepreneurs and have built businesses from the ground up. They know what’s what, you might think. But they don’t—not for your organization and board. You wouldn’t hire a new employee, sit them at their desk, and then leave them alone to figure things out. Board members need guidance as well. They need to understand how to translate their experience and competencies to best serve the organization.
Clearly define what the board needs. Conduct a needs assessment, overseen by the governance committee, for board recruitment. Identifying where the organization wants to be in three to seven years, along with the attendant strategic opportunities and risks, can help determine what skill sets, sector experience, and relationships are needed in new members. If the board is seeking diversities—of thought, background, cultural heritage, gender, sexuality, age, or any other variable—be clear about that.
Be transparent in member recruitment. Some boards have a long history of primarily recruiting through relationships—the “friend of a friend” approach. The organization will be stronger, and the board member will have a richer experience, if all board members know how their service fits into the larger strategic purpose.
Discuss expectations for board members early and often. When recruiting board members, I not only discuss their interests and skill sets and how those fit the needs of the organization, but I also explain the requirements for attendance and participation in board meetings, donor cultivation events, committee meetings, and more. In Australia and the UK, it is common practice to list the total number of board and committee meetings, and each member’s attendance record, in the organization’s annual report.
Help the board be accountable. Closely related to clear expectations is helping the board evaluate its own performance and that of each member. I bring in an independent consultant to help members understand their roles and to partner with the board chair on a self-assessment for the entire board. When used deliberatively, self-assessments can help the individual members and the entire board identify areas for improvement and success.
Be clear about financial requirements. Many organizations have a “give or get” requirement related to donations. I provide statements to every board member twice a year (May and November) that detail their giving and total donations facilitated, which keeps the requirements front and center.
Have clearly defined board terms. Term limits give members an honorable way to exit their service, allowing new members to join to meet new challenges and needs. It is increasingly common for bylaws to stipulate three-year terms, with a maximum of three consecutive terms. Some organizations also limit the board chair’s tenure to no more than two years. These practices provide useful parameters for service and may even be helpful in recruiting. To help prepare for transitions and ensure board members know their service commitment, I provide a matrix, through the governance committee, that identifies the “class” of each board member and which term and year they are in. A board member should not automatically presume they are serving beyond their current term, even if bylaws permit that.
The Executive–Board Relationship
A professional and mature relationship between the executive and board can set the tone for a well-functioning board. Careful and constant attention to this relationship can lead to higher levels of satisfaction among board members, thereby deepening their level of service, contributing to the executive’s success, and diminishing the likelihood of factions developing among board members.
Meet with the board chair monthly. Bring an agenda and discuss current organizational challenges, risks, and strategies. Keep the chair informed about arising issues—it’s always better for the chair to be forewarned than to find out late in the game. The board chair can also be a good sounding board.
Discuss the tension between governance and management. The board should be primarily focused on governance and the CEO’s responsibilities—not organizational management. Board candidates may successfully employ a hands-on management approach in their professional lives, but bringing that management style to board service can blur the boundaries of the organization’s governance and management.
The board’s governing responsibilities, in my view, cluster around the following core responsibilities: public and fiduciary trust, strategy and mission alignment, harnessing financial resources, and oversight of the executive. A board that is concerned with management tends to be focused on operational and staff management, program implementation, and public relations. They tend to meet frequently, possibly monthly. While smaller organizations can at times benefit from a more hands-on approach from the board, I have found that blurring the lines between governance and management undermines effective decision-making, accountability, and proper oversight. Routinely discussing governing responsibilities with the board chair will strengthen the relationship between the board chair, the board, and the executive.
Actively select and cultivate new board members. To the degree that the governance committee welcomes it, the executive should be involved in the needs assessment and identifying prospective board members. In partnership with the governance committee chair and the board chair, I meet with board prospects and review their suitability for service. Pay as much attention to organizational and culture fit as you pay to skill sets, relationships, and sector experience.
Assign committee responsibilities that align with skill sets and organizational needs. Every board member should be made to feel that they are making a substantive contribution to the organization’s work. Ensuring that board members’ interests and skills are aligned with committee assignments is one way to do this.
Use board members’ professional skills to help interpret, but not give, advice. I have found it unwise to ask an attorney on a board to give legal advice, but asking them to interpret or help with strategy on legal issues has been helpful. Likewise, I don’t ask an accountant to manage the books, but I do ask them to help with budget planning. It can be hard for management-oriented professionals to maintain some distance from certain roles, but defining and distinguishing these roles helps with board transitions and promotes organizational transparency.
And About Board Meetings
Board meetings need to have purpose beyond fulfilling the requirement of the bylaws. Too many executives tell me that their meetings wander aimlessly and are too long. To effectively harness board members’ passion and competencies, and ensure they feel valued, each board meeting needs to be guided by an agenda, start and end on time, and engage the members in strategic questions. Do not read reports aloud that could have been read prior to the meeting.
Consider two executive sessions. At every board meeting, consider ending with an executive session that includes the CEO and a second session without the CEO. When this was first instituted on a board I served on earlier in my career, I wondered if there was a problem. My board chair, a seasoned university president with extensive experience, told me, “Matt, it’s better that board members release any steam in the meeting rather than outside the meeting and with each other.” I soon learned the value of that: what might seem like an issue for one board member can be put in perspective by others when shared among the group. Issues can grow and fester without such an airing. Following the executive sessions, meet again with the board chair for a briefing.
Ensure members feel they are valued. I never want board members to leave a meeting thinking, “What difference would it have made if I were not there?” I want them to feel that their absence would have been significant. I often challenge our staff to present strategic issues they are dealing with to the committees with which they work. This stimulates best thinking, engages board members, and encourages board members to work with the board chair to potentially bring these strategic issues into the broader board conversations.
Have board members carry the water. When difficult, or what may be perceived as controversial, issues arise at board meetings, I’m careful to not expend political capital unnecessarily. Whenever possible, I ask board members to take the lead on these issues. While I may be a partner in the discussion, board members listen to their peers differently than they do me or the staff.
Remember that you are not their peer. As CEO, I have immense respect and gratitude for the board, but I am neither their friend nor colleague. While we work closely together, my job is to serve them. I am not suggesting subservience—the partnership has elements of interdependency and mutuality—yet I do acknowledge an inherent hierarchy. Managing this balance is key to a successful executive–board relationship.
Board work can be frustrating, but when people of good will gather to serve a mission that matters, the results can be transformative. The power of possibility is enabled through effective board work—its leadership function and its relationship with the CEO. Executives who are able to navigate challenges and opportunities with their board will help ensure their organization’s success.
Sidebar 1
When Should I Move On?
The executive should be aware of when it is time to leave the organization. When you work for a board, you want to leave on your own terms and while you are still loved, because both of those things will inevitably change!
What is the optimal time to transition out of a museum leadership position? There is no defined time. I have noticed that in the museum sector, some executives serve three or four times longer than the average university president, which is five or six years. While a short tenure in a leadership role can destabilize fundraising and confidence in the institution, a long tenure carries its own risks. Long-serving leaders can become unaware of stagnation, entrenched perspectives, and resistance to change. Control issues can arise that lead to performance issues and burnout.
Ongoing conversations with the board chair or executive committee about the organization’s needs, the executive’s role, and the board’s vision for the future will help leaders determine when their tenure should end. These discussions can be part of a formal review process.
Sidebar 2
Crisis Communications
In my role as CEO of the WWI Museum and Memorial, I often lead the organization in hosting or managing large-scale events. We were co-hosts of the NFL Draft in 2023 and have co-hosted the Chiefs Super Bowl victory celebration for each of their wins, among other very large gatherings, often in excess of 100,000 attendees.
In 2024, a shooting occurred at the close of the Chiefs celebration event. We had prepared for such a possibility in the week leading up to the event by reviewing our crisis communication plan with appropriate staff. Additionally, we reviewed previous incidents, from which we learned about communications with staff, volunteers, the public, and the board.
One of our key learnings is that I need to communicate regularly with the board during a crisis. Within 30 minutes of the Chiefs incident, I texted the board chair and then sent an email to the board informing them of the circumstances of the incident. Later that afternoon I sent several more communications about the wellbeing of the staff and guests, and our response. The purpose of the communication was to ensure that they understood the immediate threat, how the team was doing, and importantly, what was being done—even in the absence of critical information.
As a matter of principle, I want the board chair, and ideally the whole board, to be aware of issues and incidents we are dealing with. This is also true for social media storms or concerns raised by the public that can quickly flare up.
Resources
McKinsey & Company Nonprofit Board Self Assessment Tool
scribd.com/document/35886194/McKinsey-Co-Nonprofit-Board-Self-Assessment-Tool-Short-Form
BoardSource, Board Self-Assessment for Nonprofit Boards
boardsource.org/product/board-self-assessment-nonprofit-boards/
BoardSource, The Governance Series
boardsource.org/product/governance-responsibilities/
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