When Micheal was asked to join the Board of an not-for-profit organization in his community, he was apprehensive about getting involved. His previous experience on a 20-member board was a disaster. In his eyes, not-for-profit boards were notorious for wasting time and going nowhere. He wasn’t sure if his contribution would make a difference.

Michael is 39 years old and a busy father of two sons, one 7 years old and one 9. Michael strongly believes in the organization’s value to his family and the community, so he accepted. Today he is getting ready for his first board meeting.

Michael received the agenda and supporting documents about a week ago. He was quite impressed to see the agenda was divided into 4-columns; Time, Topic, Action and Leader. Every discussion item was numbered, a leader identified, an action proposed and time span allocated.  The agenda also presented an item entitled “Board Output” as the first discussion point. He wasn’t sure what “Board Output” meant.

He found three briefing documents entitled “Board Output”. “These were well done,” he thought to himself!  Some agenda items were linked to a briefing document. The briefing documents were typically one-pagers and were divided into 5 sections:

• Topic
• Objective/Purpose
• Background
• Options
• Recommendation/Action/Motion. This last section was left blank in two (2) of the briefing documents.  He wondered “why?”

The authors’ names were identified in the footer. Two briefing documents were submitted by Board committees and one was submitted by a Board member.

Michael also noticed an item on the agenda called “Information Sharing.”  He found several short reports related to this section in the Board package, he received.

WOW! At this point, Michael knew he had joined a board that would function differently.    In fact, the tide had turned. He was now afraid that he might not measure up.

Michael had never really been trained in governance. He knew that he would have to be well prepared if he was going to make a valuable contribution at the meeting. So, he decided to look for articles on Boards and their role.

He found a multitude of books and websites on governance and the role of Boards. Here are a few, he wanted to share with you:

• The Imperfect Board Member – Discovering the Seven Principles of Governance Excellence by Jim Brown
• Boards that make a difference by John Carver
• NEW Duties and Responsibilities of Directors of Not-for-Profit Organizations, by Hugh M. Kelly, Q.C.

  The WalkThroughs are both sildenafil 100mg uk supervisory (underscoring the manager’s accountability) and supportive (providing the occasion for dialogue and coaching). At that time, online pharmacy without downtownsault.org purchase generic cialis prescription can avoid these issues by taking proper initiative to defeat the negative effects of aging. The implementation cheap soft cialis of the right option can be proved to be fatal when the impact got enhanced to cause you to experience an asthmatic attack. Retarded ejaculation- Due cheapest cipla tadalafil to condition, ejaculation, occurs very slow.

• www.csae.com—Canadian Society of Association Executives

  He also found a short video on What is governance?

  If your Board is looking for assistance with all aspects of Board work including

  • meeting coordination and management: setting agendas, taking minutes, follow-ups…We can help!
  • the development or update of your Board of Directors Governance Handbook, policy development, training, follow-ups…We can help!
  • Board orientation…We can help!

We can help! Call us now to make an appointment —  416-388-2228

and we’ll gladly come to you!