Hiring a new board member? Beware

Not-for-profit (NFP) boards should be a cohesive force where the total dynamic is more powerful than each individual, so it’s important to balance different personality types and skills. Despite an improved grasp of how to build harmonious and effective boards, one aspect of board recruitment still inhibits many NFP organisations – the urge to hire like-minded people.

It’s human nature to want to be surrounded by people like us. There’s no denying some individuals strike a chord because they remind us of ourselves or are similar to other members who are proven star performers. However hiring such individuals can result in a lop-sided,
conflicted board.

Difficulties in changing recruitment patterns

There are different board perspectives. Some take a conscious decision to maintain their status quo by only hiring a certain type of board member. Boards with this mind set are on the decline and are being replaced by progressive boards that aim for diversification. These new-age boards recognise a need to break patterns of selection and are filling gaps in gender, race, age, demographics, life experience and expertise. There’s also a growing tendency by these boards to account for the makeup of their constituency, such as a cancer survivor on a cancer foundation board.

Branching out and finding the perfect board member can be difficult. Many stakeholders are too time-poor to become involved or, having done the same thing the same way for so long, are not confident they have the objectivity required to break the mold. Increasingly, clients come to us saying “I’ve exhausted my networks. Where do I find these different, diverse, skills-specific people that we need?”

At NFPs where 75 per cent of board members serve voluntarily, the difficulties of locating appropriate directors from outside of the tribe loom large. Still, many NFP boards give recruiting a try. They attempt to locate new directors through their own efforts only to find it consumes vast amounts of time, energy and money without any guarantees of success. So what happens? Instead of a blended board balanced by diverse viewpoints and demographics, the organisation end up in the default position by once again bringing in people they know.

The value of objectivity

Recruiting board members for NFP organisations is not for the faint hearted. The vast amount of time involved in advertising, interviewing, undertaking psychological assessment, fact checking, selecting and contracting is why many NFPs see the value in employing specialists in board recruitment, such as Windsor, who can handle the whole process within a reasonable time frame and at a nominal set fee. Impartial, professional recruiters have far-reaching board search operations that enable them to take identification and selection further than what’s likely to be available to a board.

Once appropriate contenders have been found, trained consultants can consider emotional factors that rule those candidates just as judiciously as their qualifications and industry experience. In the NFP area, cultural fit and intricate qualities like social intelligence, emotional maturity, curiosity, vision, compassion, self-reflection and the ability to stand in another person’s shoes are crucial. The interviewee should also be selected on their ability to cope with pressures and tension, time management, passions, goals and personal dreams. It’s all in a day’s work for a trained consultant, though hardly an easy task for a board unfamiliar with psychological interviewing.