Strong Staff Reports: Keeping Your Board in the Loop

Today's post from guest blogger, Dave Medema of Pondera Advisors:

Keeping your board engaged at a high level is a challenge for Chamber Executives. Do you ever wonder how you can keep them “coming back for more”? One way is through reports that capture their attention as well as their imagination. Here are 4 tips to do just that.

1. Be obsessed with the future, not preoccupied with the past! Keep the board informed about community and industry issues and trends. Few board members are historians -- they are involved with the Chamber to build a growing, vibrant community! One executive I know regularly has a guest presenter at board meetings who discusses a community issue such education reform or transportation. The discussion that results is, without fail, energizing and influential on Chamber priorities.

2. Lead through interpretation! When you provide information regarding what has been achieved last month or last year (i.e., a financial or program activities report), be sure to translate what that means for the Chamber in the future. Don’t leave your board to figure that out!

3. Focus on current goals and priorities. Reports that describe progress on the Chamber’s goals will keep the board’s eyes on what is most important. If you find that board meetings focus too much on trivia and that the “important stuff” comes up at the end of the meeting with insufficient time to talk about it, this will be a big help!

4. Have a powerful format. Your report must be focused, timely, accurate and easy to read. Each report section should include:
a. The outcome or goal being reported
b. Data that describes progress in achieving the goal
c. Your interpretation of the data. Are you “on track”, or is corrective action required. If so,
what action will be taken?

The goal of staff reports is to allow the board to be confident that it has a reasonable level of knowledge of how the Chamber is succeeding. Crafting your reports in terms of goal achievement, supported by candid interpretation, will result in strong staff reports and help build an engaged board, not a rubber stamp!

For more information on this and many other topics, visit Free Management Library, http://www.managementhelp.org/topics.htm

Dave Medema is a consultant with Pondera Advisors, a team of leadership consultants in Grand Rapids, Michigan who serve as guides for organizational and individual change. Their core purpose is to help organizations and the individuals who lead them to achieve sustained excellence. Pondera Advisors facilitates strategic planning, organizational change initiatives, succession planning and leadership development, and teambuilding. In addition, they serve as executive coaches and provide customized leadership training for their clients. Visit their website at www.ponderaadvisors.com