Desirable Characteristics of Board Members
The following is a discussion of what I perceive as the top desirable characteristics of board members. I am going to start with two characteristics — playing well with others and being open-minded. These are similar characteristics.
Do you remember your school report cards? Did any of your teachers point out that you do not play well with others? If so, you are not a good choice for serving as a board member for an organization, unless of course you have outgrown this tendency. To serve on a board you have to be willing to get along with people. You are going to get things done through agreement and consensus, which requires you to play well with others. If you would rather just have people do what you want, then you need to be in charge, not on a board.
Secondly you have to be open-minded. This means that you are willing to actually listen to other people’s point of view and even occasionally change your mind. You should not be coming to meetings with your mind made up about what is on the agenda. The idea of a meeting is to have everyone presents their views and have a discussion. That’s why it is a board and not just one person.
Being Brave
A board member has to be able to say when they do not agree with a point of view. At board meetings sometimes a person will go along with the majority viewpoint when they don’t actually agree because they are too timid to say so. You have to be able to ask questions when you don’t understand something. What you might find out is that there are others who do not understand, that it is not just you, so you ask the question and you hear murmurs of agreement around the table. You are serving on a board to share your opinions with others, not just to take up space around the table. If you don’t think you can speak up when you don’t agree then don’t join a board, maybe a committee would be more appropriate for you.
Committed to the Cause
Every organization wants board members who care about the mission of the organization. A committed board member is willing to volunteer their time and their money to help the organization achieve their goals. Board members who are not interested in participating in the activities of the group are not as useful. From the standpoint of the board member, there are only so many hours in the day. So, why would you want to spend any of them in a board meeting of a group unless you care about their mission? One should only join the boards of organizations where you can be committed to the cause.
Being Punctual
One of the big reasons for wanting board members to be punctual involves getting a quorum at meetings. The quorum is typically half of the board plus one. If there are 8 people on a board and 4 of them are at a meeting and they are waiting for one other board member before they can start the meeting …well — you can see the problem. If the board member has a reputation for being late, then the other board members might wait a long time, not being sure that whether the late board member is just late or is not coming. The other issue is, of course, if board members do show up late. If the meeting started then there will be things that have happened that you know nothing about, since you were so tardy. Are you going to waste everyone’s time by making the group go over the same information again?
Being punctual is a sign of respect for the group. People who are habitually late may not be a good choice for serving on boards.
Ethical Behaviour
The news from the United States lately is all about members of the Trump administration and campaign being indicted and convicted of various sorts of fraud. Whatever else Trump has done, he has surrounded himself with people who don’t understand ethical behaviour. Could be another example of the “tone at the top” influencing the entire organization.
Of course, ethical behaviour is a higher standard than criminal behaviour. We want our board members to have a natural understanding of right and wrong. The policies of the organization will require board members to be impartial in their decisions and to understand the difference between a decision that is good for the group and one that can benefit them personally. We can teach ethics but it certainly helps if members already have the characteristics of wanting to behave in an ethical manner.
