Devil's Advocate

This article was written by Liz Vibber, my associate and strategic consultant with Bucks County Center for Nonprofit Management. It first appeared in Blue Avacado about a year ago. It is a great technique to help your Board make better decisions.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all Boards had 20/20 hindsight to assist them in making decisions? If they could clearly see the obstacles a project will encounter in time to make the necessary adjustments?

Absent a few sprinkles of fairy dust, using the Devil’s Advocate technique might assist boards in identifying such obstacles. A Devil’s Advocate is someone who takes an opposing view to test an idea or project the board is considering. Rather than simply participating in a board discussion, the DA’s job is to purposely ask questions and argue against the idea. By responding to these questions, the board is forced into healthy debate as they consider arguments they might never have thought of had it not been someone’s (the Devil’s Advocate’s) specific task to try and challenge the board’s thinking.

Your board can use this technique during every meeting or only when important issues are up for discussion. After explaining the technique, randomly select a board member and place an index card marked DA or Devil’s Advocate in front of them where all can see it. Throughout the meeting, this person should be asking questions to test the soundness of the decisions the organization is considering. A couple of caveats-holding the DA card does not give this board member the ability to block or hold decisions from a vote, nor should the board hold it against the designated DA for asking tough questions. You can’t be annoyed with someone whose ‘job’ it is to question the wisdom of an idea—can you?


Example-
For example, a small suburban nonprofit organization was considering expanding their adult program services to include children. This 25 year old agency had successfully been serving adults in accordance with its mission, but lately, at the insistence of one very vocal board member, was wondering if it could better serve the community by expanding its offerings to children. By using the DA card over the course of several meeting discussions, the agency realized that the additional licensure, insurance, and educational knowledge that would be necessary to be obtained in order to offer youth services outweighed the tangible benefit. Using this technique they were able to ask and answer a series of tough questions which ultimately clarified that their goal was ‘increased’ service delivery, not necessarily ‘expanded’ service delivery. The agency was then able to accomplish this by instituting transportation services to a neighboring bus depot. This solution increased their client base by 7% in the first year and their profits by 4% (after factoring in the additional costs). This provided the agency with growth that was acceptable to all, with the added benefit of having a wider geographic service area without the costs of ramping up new programs.

Excited by using the DA technique, board members went out of their way to prepare thoughtful and intelligent arguments resulting in healthy debate. After the first meeting using this technique, the board began to ‘pass’ the DA card around the table giving more individuals the opportunity to offer challenges to the proposal on the table—all under the cloak of security the DA card offered.