Desirable Board Member Attributes Under Policy Governance®

1. Vitally interested in the organization and its general mission,

2. Some degree of knowledge pertinent to the organization's Ends (not necessarily the means in any detail)

3. Good at seeing the big picture, and comfortable with an Ends focus instead of a Means focus.

4. Understand that allegiance, fidelity and stewardship is to the owners, not Management

5. Foresighted (intuitively seeing the effects of actions into the future, through uncertainty and complexity (c.f. Robert Greenleaf's writing regarding attributes of a wise servant leader)).

6. Good at conceptualizing.

7. Smart and wise (good judgment, sagacious, not from a special competency, but from ability to see the big picture; strategically perceptive, capacity for imagination),

8. Aware (intellectual alertness; c.f. Robert Greenleaf’s discussion),

9. Good at team dynamics and group skills¹ (emotional intelligence, c.f. Daniel Goleman’s work);

1. Trustworthy (loyalty coupled with integrity) and willing to live by the rules (the board’s rules) (Not likely to be a maverick, for example, abusing power. This is different than an individual capable of courageous dissent within the scope of board discussion. That is desirable.)

2. Capable of noticing common interest among members and inventing win-win proposals, (the blending of humility and loyalty),

3. Knowledgeable in what is involved in the Ends issues under consideration. (See number 2 above.) (Note that this does not necessarily require knowledge regarding the means to get to those Ends.)

10. Possessing moral courage, willing and able to make hard decisions

11. Time

12. Willing to support (or be loyal to) group decisions once made

(Other attributes should be added for the nature of the organization, e.g., for faith-based: Biblically consistent life style, spiritually mature, in accord with the organization’s belief system, etc.)

Richard M. Biery is President of The BroadBaker Group, Ltd. of Kansas City, MO.

The practices described in this area are described as Better Practices for a very good reason. We have a great deal of difficulty with the term best practices used in any other context than to refer to the results of benchmarking exercises involving real and relevant organizations with tangible results.  We offer Better Practices related to areas where we feel that change is needed in associations. Better Practices are intended to provoke thought, and to encourage organizations to think about what they are doing and how they are doing it.  

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