Questions posted by John Fast, consolidated for convenience. All questions and responses in one thread! Your thoughts welcome. • RCSC BOARD Generally, what do you view the role of the Board is? • DIRECTOR CANDIDACY How you can make the job of the Board easier. Are there too many meetings? Do all Board members have to attend every exchange meeting? Should management serve as chairs of committees? Should the Board have a full-time administrative assistant that is its employee (i.e., they supervise the employee.) Should we hire a parliamentarian? • Does the data and trends support the cost to build a Sun City theater?
I saw where John posted these as separate topics making it simple to keep track of each one. Won't consolidating all his questions on one thread make things confusing? One will have to scroll all over looking for answers.
I believe it is the Boards responsibility "To do anything and everything lawfully necessary in the interest of the Members" while at the same time adhering to their fiduciary responsibility to maintain the solvency of the Corporation. I would say, by nature, it's not that easy of a job. Takes a lot of time dealing with issues. They also get stuck chairing and co-chairing committees as well as becoming a liaison for many of the other local organizations. Many Directors are unqualified to respond to certain issues that requires them to spend time too start digging for information. Not necessarily too many, but possible that many meetings end up going in circles and nothing is ever really accomplished. I suppose if the Members are looking for answers, you need Board members as well as Management and Staff there as well. Too many times we ask questions and only receive a blank stare in return. Not necessarily, but if the meeting pertains to a particular issue related to the RCSC then at least a staff member should attend. I would prefer to have a Member of the community to at least serve as co-chair. Many Directors get assigned to a Committee that they have little or now knowledge of the issue. We have Members of the Community who have had life-long careers in the particular field who could better serve the committee. You mean somebody like Marcia Johnson? YES, and only because most Directors don't understand proper parliamentary procedure. And when the proper procedure is not followed it deprives the rights of the remaining member's who possibly should have had an opinion, (vote) on the motion or issue. Not if it's exclusively for the Players, but I still have not been convinced a new theater or PAC could be utilized sufficiently to justify spending a lot of money on. And....I've said it a million times. I didn't agree with purchasing and building an 8th recreation center at Grand when data will show that we are nowhere near full utilization on anything!
Eight Signs Your Board Might Be Dysfunctional 1. There are more frequent discussions of competitors and costs than of collaborators. 2. The board lacks racial diversity and is populated mostly or entirely by people without knowledge of philanthropy, nonprofits, or the work of the organization. 3. The board is two-tiered. 4. Authority for decisions is unclear or unspoken. 5. There is more time spent by the board listening to CEO or staff presentations than actually discussing topics. 6. There’s no celebration — no joy. 7. The CEO isn’t assessed, the assessment is opaque, or only seen by a subset of board members. 8. The Board doesn’t assess itself. You can find a much further in depth explanation of each point here: https://cep.org/eight-signs-your-board-might-be-dysfunctional/
