Govern Like a Jazz Group: A Core Chart for Optimal Flow in Nonprofit Governance

Does it get any better than this? Many of us spend plenty of time looking for good analogies or strong metaphor; that connection to enhance our communication and really express our feelings. Brian Fraser, of Jazzthink, really hit the nail on the head with this article. It's not something that you can necessarily quantify, but we all know (because we feel it) when the rythyms are working and everyone is in harmony. Conversely, we also instinctively know when they're not. Love this article, take it to your next board meeting! Bunnie

Govern Like a Jazz Group: A Core Chart for

Optimal Flow in Nonprofit Governance

by Brian Fraser, Ph.D., "Lead Provocateur"

Think of the last board meeting you participated in at one of the nonprofits in which you are involved. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), rate the flow of the meeting. Think of flow as a process in which the achievement of purpose progresses unimpeded. It’s something like a stream with no debris in it flowing smoothly to its destination. It’s also like a jazz performance in which all the musicians are in sync and their instruments blend harmoniously into a toe-tapping, body-swaying performance. To get a sense of how that looks and feels, click here to enjoy Jamaican piano virtuoso Monty Alexander and his group playing Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry.”

In the liner notes to his Impressions in Blue album, Alexander offered an astute description of jazz, identifying five elements that go together in creating optimal flow in great jazz. Taken together, they constitute a core chart of the key notes (the basic melody and rhythm sheet of music from which jazz musicians play) in engaging and effective governance. They describe optimal flow in nonprofit governance as well.

“Jazz, at its best,” writes Alexander, “is a situation in which participants willingly support each other, working together as one, each player bringing virtuosity, optimism, mutual respect, good will, and the desire to make it feel good.” [Emphasis added.]

Let’s take a closer look at each element as it applies to the flow of nonprofit governance.

Virtuosity

Each member of the board brings a particular set of talents to contribute. In most cases, those talents have been honed through deliberate practice over many years. The person who has those talents comes onto the board to use them in the service of the organization’s purpose. It will take some orientation time, sage advice, and intentional support to assess and decide together how best to deploy those talents to achieve the organization’s aspirations. But if your board does not have a clear process for matching talents to tasks in the operation of your organization, put that on the agenda of your next meeting. You are wasting your greatest asset – the virtuosity of your board members. Board members who are frustrated at not being able to offer their best to the success of your organization will not be fully engaged in willingly supporting your work.

Optimism

The jazz musicians with whom I have worked most closely at Jazzthink are born optimists. Prior to a performance, they are loose, jocular, and positive about the potential they are about to achieve in their performance. They know their instruments and how to use they to the best advantage when they are playing together. They are sensitive to and appreciative of the audiences for whom they are playing. They anticipate the best. If something goes wrong in the midst of the performance, they have the confidence, based on experience, to find ways to overcome the problem and get things back on track. The best boards on which I have served and with whom I have worked thought and behaved the same.

Mutual Respect

Respect is the oil that keeps different personalities working smoothly together. If respect for the varying virtuosities of each board member and for the potential of them all flowing together smoothly is not present, your board will not be working together as effectively and efficiently as it can in helping people change their lives. Time, money, and opportunities will be wasted.

Unfettered conflict around ideas about the best ways of doing things is essential. If that conflict starts to center around personalities, either within your own head, or at the table, or over coffee, you’re in trouble. In the midst of the current challenges being faced by nonprofits, both in terms of emerging needs and dwindling resources, you can’t afford that. Valuing the virtuosity you have gathered and the power of mutuality to enable you to continuously improve your performance is foundational to finding the kind of flow we are considering and achieving the impact you desire.

Good Will

Closely aligned with mutual respect, good will has to do with the intent you bring to the table. You were invited to sit on the board and probably said yes in order to work together with others to willingly support all those in the organization who help to change lives through whatever the organization does. Keeping that intention in mind in every situation that comes to the board, no matter how conflicted or pressured the board may be, will model the good will needed to work through the functions of the board to guide and monitor well the performance of the organization. Jazz musicians who are wrapped up in their egos, or who insist on their own way all the time, or bring their own idiosyncratic agendas to the performance too often simply are not invited to play with the group again. I know it’s not easy to fire a volunteer board member, but sometimes it’s necessary. Don’t agree to or continue to play with people lacking or unwilling to develop any of these elements of optimal flow in nonprofit governance.

The Desire to Make it Feel Good

Jason Koransky, long-time editor of DownBeat, once said, “Jazz ain’t supposed to make you frown.” I think the same should be said about nonprofit governance. People should leave a board meeting feeling a deep satisfaction for having accomplished significant things that strengthen the capacity of their organization to do its good work. Smiles rather than frowns should grace their faces. To achieve this in the midst of the disagreements, crises, pressures, and tensions that mark any gathering of people with the responsibility to attend to fiduciary, strategic, and generative matters relating to a nonprofit’s success requires exceptional self-management. You have to pay attention to how you show up and seek support from your colleagues on how to show up better. The good purpose of your organization deserves that kind of effort.

You Are All Jazz Musicians

Here’s the connection. You co-create this quality of nonprofit governance through the conversations that you have, especially those in your meetings. Donald Schön, professor of urban studies and education at MIT and an accomplished jazz musicians himself, pointed out that the most common form of jazz or improvisation in human experience is ordinary conversation. Your instrument is your voice. Every time you engage in conversation, you use vocabulary and grammar differently, improvising with them to create something new. The intent with which you engage in conversation and the deliberate practice you undertake to continuously improve the results determines the positive contribution you make in any endeavor. That is especially true in finding the optimal flow of good governance in your nonprofit organization. The reality is that you are all governing like a jazz group. You can all work together like Monty Alexander’s group to support the purpose of your organization. The question is “How great are you willing to sound together with your colleagues?”

Dr. Brian Fraser is lead provocateur of Jazzthink. He speaks, consults, and coaches with nonprofit organizations and their leaders using the wisdom and workings of jazz to help them imagine better ways of serving the common good. He sits on the board of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management and is on the governance and leadership training team at Volunteer Vancouver. Visit his website at www.jazzthink.com. This article originally appeared on Charity Channel. Re-printed here with permission of the author.

Hotel Negotiations: Getting Deals for Your Conference

Amidst all the bad news of this economy, there is a silver lining for nonprofits who host conferences. Hotels have found their income off as executive travel budgets and meetings have been cut back. Now is an excellent time to negotiate with hotels to get a great room rate, concessions on meals and extra services.

I am a big fan of planning years in advance. But the timing of your conference planning will depend on how large your organization is and how many people attend your annual or bi-annual conferences. If you have over 200 people attend your conferences on a regular basis, then negotiating hotel contracts three even four years in advance can work to your advantage. You can lock in rates now for a conference three years from now, so even if hotel business picks up, you can get bargain basement rates for the future at this year’s prices.

If you’re unsure how the economy will affect conference attendance, do a members’ survey. Are your members’ travel budgets being reduced or eliminated? What is the likelihood they will attend your conference in 2010 or 2011? It’s important to get a sense of what your members’ circumstances are so that you don’t overbook room nights and get stuck with a penalty.

The first stop to negotiation success is to work closely with the convention and visitors bureau. What have they heard about hotels in their city? The CVB’s can do the initial shopping and save you loads of time. Send them your conference needs, attendance records and agenda and let them pick out the hotels that fit your requirements. How many breakout rooms do you need? How large should the general meeting or banquet space be? Do you have to have a hotel that is unionized? Do you need space for a trade show? CVB’s can also give you a schedule of special events happening during the dates of your conference and ideas for how you can leverage them for your members.

Speaking of dates for your conference, if you have some flexibility you will save lots of money for yourself and your members. Weather, time of year, and location can all drive room prices up and certainly can drive airline prices through the roof. For instance, Washington, D.C. is very busy in the spring and summer with tourists and special events. Tampa is very busy in the winter but fairly quiet in the summer. A late October conference in D.C. or a mid-summer conference in Tampa, will allow you to negotiate excellent room rates. (Yes, I know it’s hot in Tampa in July but nearly every hotel in Tampa has a huge swimming pool and face it, most people attending conferences spend most of their time in the hotel anyway).

Don’t be afraid to “play” hotels off one another. If one hotel offers you lower room rates, go back to the others and ask them to beat the price. It also helps if you do a little intel. Check out the CVB calendar to see what conferences will be in town, if it looks slow, you will have an advantage.

And it’s not just room rates. Meals are huge bargaining chips. If you know for a fact that your organization spends $40,000 on meals (including breaks, refreshments, etc.) tell the hotel you will guarantee them a minimum of $35,000 in meals. I’ve had hotels stop in their tracks when I gave them a meal guarantee and instantly concede to what I wanted in room rates. Hotels make BIG money on their meals and breaks. Regardless of what you spend, give the hotel a meal guarantee, you will see that it makes a difference.

As for meals, I always under estimate banquet meals. Hotels will make 10% more than you requested and not every conference attendee will attend the banquet, even if they have paid for the meal. This underestimation keeps me from getting stuck with paying for meals nobody ate and I have never been comfortable with throwing away food.

You have to commit to a minimum number of room nights and sometimes that’s scary because if you don’t reach that number (or typically 90% of that number) your organization will have to pay for the rooms you booked, out of your pocket, as a penalty. This doesn’t have to be an art. Go back to previous year’s conferences and see what your room nights were. Here again, it’s better to under book rather than over book. You can usually add room nights as you get closer to the conference, but you can’t deduct room nights.

Also, never, ever, ever, ever…pay for meeting rooms! Hotels will sometimes suggest that there is a charge for meeting rooms. Unless you are just meeting at the hotel and you are not bringing them meals and room nights, then you will have to pay for the meeting room. But, if you are bringing their hotel paying customers, do not fall for paying for meeting rooms. Those rooms are the enticement of the hotel to get you to bring your conference to them. Ergo: FREE.Always keep in mind, the staff at the hotel you are negotiating with are “salespeople.” They have to sell those rooms and facilities, in fact, they are anxious to sell those rooms and facilities. Remember that when you walk in the door, you are potentially bringing a lot of business to the hotel and you are helping the hotel keep its doors open.

Contact Bunnie at info at riedelcommunications dot com

The Importance of Board Meeting Attendance

How often have I seen this? Organizations unable to properly function because Board Members don't attend meetings. Gene Takagi provides some terrific insight into the responsibility of Board Members to attend meetings and what can (and should) be done to ensure attendance. Bunnie

The Importance of Board Attendance

by Gene Takagi, The Law Office of Gene Takagi

A board of directors is charged with providing ultimate oversight over the activities and affairs of its organization. Each director must discharge such duties in good faith, in a manner the director believes to be in the best interests of the organization, and with due care. Failure to regularly attend board meetings likely signals a director's inability or unwillingness to meet the director's fiduciary duties to the organization and its mission.

The most important factor in encouraging board attendance is to ensure that meetings are productive and valuable to the organization. Directors are more likely to attend meetings at which they believe their participation will be constructive. While I save a more comprehensive discussion of holding effective meetings for another post, here are some keys:

• Have a capable chair who can effectively preside over the meeting and elicit the participation of the directors.
• Have basic rules in place that are consistent with the organization's core values (but be careful of adopting formalized procedures like Robert's Rules without a full understanding of all of the procedures).
• Predetermine the goals of the meeting (and be mission-focused).
• Develop and distribute at least several days in advance a detailed agenda for the meeting, including the actions required to be taken, and supporting materials.
• Provide opportunities for each director to contribute relevant information to the organization and the board with respect to major issues, opportunities and threats (this may be collected and distributed in advance of the meeting -- the chair may then choose to focus on important and/or recurring issues at the meeting).
• Manage time appropriately and respectfully.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of meetings.

A nonprofit's bylaws may contain provisions to encourage board attendance. Quorum requirements may be established to ensure that board meetings can only take place with the participation of a majority or supermajority of directors. If the quorum requirements are set too low, a small percentage of directors may be able to take important actions without the input and vote of a majority of the directors. For example, in the case of a board with 12 directors and a quorum requirement of 40%, five directors may hold a meeting, and an affirmative vote of three may constitute a board action. By increasing the quorum requirement to a simple majority (i.e., >50%), seven directors would be required to hold a meeting, and four votes for an action. If a quorum is defined as 60%, eight directors would be required for a meeting, and five votes for an action. The higher quorum requirements would (1) send a signal to directors, prospective directors, and others that regular board attendance is expected; and (2) ensure that a very small percentage of the board could not pass actions that impact the organization. However, boards must be careful not to set its quorum requirements so high as to jeopardize the board's ability to take important actions in a timely manner.

The bylaws may also provide for the automatic removal (or deemed resignation) of directors who either miss a specified number of meetings or fail to attend a specified number of meetings. A board may have the right to remove a director with or without cause under state law and the organization's bylaws, but such actions may be highly sensitive, politically charged, and not seen as a viable option except in extreme circumstances of director misconduct. An automatic removal provision linked to attendance may allow for the pruning of absentee directors without an affirmative board action for removal and loss of face of the removed director. However, as nonprofit attorney Don Kramer points out in Nonprofit Issues, such provisions may not be enforceable, particularly if poorly drafted. One key to a valid automatic removal provision is not to tie the removal to a number of "unexcused" absences because without written evidence to the contrary, it may be argued that the board excuses every absence. Instead, the removal provision can provide for board discretion to waive the automatic removal provision under certain defined circumstances.

A nonprofit may also adopt a board attendance policy outside of its bylaws which explicitly defines the organization's expectations of its directors. Such policy may be included in the director's job description and given to each director and prospective director. Carter McNamara provides a sample board attendance policy in the Free Management Library.

Board attendance is directly correlated to board participation and thereby to the success of the organization in furthering its mission. Creating and maintaining a board culture that expects the participation of its directors in productive meetings will increase the engagement of the board. And an engaged board is one of a nonprofit's most valuable assets.

Contact Gene at http://www.attorneyfornonprofits.com/