Accountability

At our Thursday breakfast roundtable, our discussion on succession planning moved into Board succession matters which then diverted to a discussion on Board accountability. Namely, what do you do when a Board committee is not keeping up with its responsibilities? A few suggestions:

• Each committee chair needs to report to the President and/or the Vice President of the Board. The President and the Vice President should not chair committees so they are free to mentor and guide the other committee chairs.
• Written descriptions of each committee and what the committee is expected to accomplish within a certain time frame.
• Written reports from the committee as applicable.
• Consider appointing a new committee chair if necessary. Sometimes, someone doesn’t have the time to be the chair but is afraid to let everyone down.