Do you know how happy I am to see an incumbent Board member say these things? I've been doing whatever the virtual form of screaming is since mid-2010 that we were going to end up where we are now, that eventually we were going to run out of people willing to take up leadership mantles because they know they won't be supported.
I am dubious about adding Board seats. My concerns rest with the ability of Board to say as a group, "We have to stop growing and focus on established projects." and "We have to learn to let go." When I requested a halt on workgroups, stressed out of my mind that we were continuing to add lead positions, when those leads are just chairs under another name, I was surprised that Board accepted it without argument. That was a step in the right direction. But it has to apply to everything.
However, I remain unconvinced that adding the seats won't simply result in exactly what we're seeing right now: Board members doing more staff work than Board work because we're already hurting for leaders and there are no people to step in and people who refuse to step in. I worry it means Board members will chair committees and then will be their own liaisons, leaving no recourse for staff members to agitate for change or feel like they have the ability to challenge decisions or the status quo. This utopia of Board members being equal enough to serve as on-the ground leaders does not yet exist. The walls are still, effectively for volunteers, up and impossible to see through (i.e. meetings are only available to staff; volunteers still have to go by only minutes). This equality and the ability for Board members to know what hat is appropriate will probably not exist for years. The way it stands now, if this happens and we fall back to the old ways of people not letting staff work go, it will continue to bottleneck growth. As has happened and continues to happen, it will lead to an unrelenting grip on the projects claimed by Board members (because those motivated to run for Board have high ownership over their projects), and it will hurt the enthusiasm and retention of our staff who want to do work and create positive changes, not be continually and repeatedly blocked because their leaders are Board members and there's no where else to turn. This behavior often isn't malicious, but the nature of our hierarchy makes it seem that way.
If we're serious about decreasing the trend in Board members also filling other key org positions — and from Board discussions throughout the term, this is the direction we're headed — this means that whoever we draw into Board will leave behind gaps, the very problem we're already having.
Emphasis mine. This would be nice, but I also think it's unrealistic. I see people who ran for Board doing the same work they were doing as staff on top of Board work. They haven't let go of the staff work because nothing requires them to. They're invested, and rightly so, because they've given energy and time, but in some cases, it's hurting us greatly. Unless what you present in this quote actually happens, I honestly don't believe it will be a positive change at all. It will just be more of the same.
no subject
I am dubious about adding Board seats. My concerns rest with the ability of Board to say as a group, "We have to stop growing and focus on established projects." and "We have to learn to let go." When I requested a halt on workgroups, stressed out of my mind that we were continuing to add lead positions, when those leads are just chairs under another name, I was surprised that Board accepted it without argument. That was a step in the right direction. But it has to apply to everything.
However, I remain unconvinced that adding the seats won't simply result in exactly what we're seeing right now: Board members doing more staff work than Board work because we're already hurting for leaders and there are no people to step in and people who refuse to step in. I worry it means Board members will chair committees and then will be their own liaisons, leaving no recourse for staff members to agitate for change or feel like they have the ability to challenge decisions or the status quo. This utopia of Board members being equal enough to serve as on-the ground leaders does not yet exist. The walls are still, effectively for volunteers, up and impossible to see through (i.e. meetings are only available to staff; volunteers still have to go by only minutes). This equality and the ability for Board members to know what hat is appropriate will probably not exist for years. The way it stands now, if this happens and we fall back to the old ways of people not letting staff work go, it will continue to bottleneck growth. As has happened and continues to happen, it will lead to an unrelenting grip on the projects claimed by Board members (because those motivated to run for Board have high ownership over their projects), and it will hurt the enthusiasm and retention of our staff who want to do work and create positive changes, not be continually and repeatedly blocked because their leaders are Board members and there's no where else to turn. This behavior often isn't malicious, but the nature of our hierarchy makes it seem that way.
Emphasis mine. This would be nice, but I also think it's unrealistic. I see people who ran for Board doing the same work they were doing as staff on top of Board work. They haven't let go of the staff work because nothing requires them to. They're invested, and rightly so, because they've given energy and time, but in some cases, it's hurting us greatly. Unless what you present in this quote actually happens, I honestly don't believe it will be a positive change at all. It will just be more of the same.