Firing Lousy Board Members

Every organization deserves a good board and effective board members. And every board member deserves a chance to be an effective board member.

But too often, things aren’t working. Board members aren’t effective. Staff are (or aren’t) helping. It’s a mess!

This book helps explain what’s going on – and tells you how to fix the situation.

The book is a quick and easy read. User friendly, fast, and sometimes pretty funny.

Topics and tools

• Difference between the board and the board member
• Finding the right board members
• Using a skills inventory – and paying attention to behaviors, too
• Role of the governance committee
• Defining expectations – and evaluating performance
• Giving feedback to poor performers

Always remember: firing is a last resort

This book is mostly about how to not fire people. The book focuses on finding the right board members and enabling them to be successful.

Firing is a last resort. But it’s an important strategy to launch in some situations.

Fight your fear factor. In the real world, top-notch organizations do fire lousy performers – yes, even board members.

Bad board members produce bad governance. And bad governance is a huge risk for the nonprofit sector. Bad governance can put your organization – and its board members – on the media’s front page.

Don’t keep poor performers around. It’s not fair to other board members. It’s not fair to staff. And it isn’t fair to your organization’s mission.

P.S. The author has direct experience doing everything described in this book – both from a staff and volunteer position.

View the table of contents and sample chapters at Amazon. Buy books from the publisher or Amazon.

Visit CharityChannel for the “In the Trenches” series, great books for nonprofit organizations that want to raise more money, do good planning, build great boards, and…

And check out CharityChannel’s new imprint, “For the Genius” series with interesting books for all of us.

“This is a long-overdue guide to making dreams of nonprofit organizations come true by exorcising the nightmare of lousy board members. This book is the equivalent of a GPS for steering your actions in building great boards and culling bad board members.” (Amazon review)

“Some books stay on the shelf. This will be on your desk and will be well-thumbed. An invaluable resource and an external voice urging the courage to take action.” (Canadian CEO)

“I want this book for the CEOs and Board members of every organization I have ever worked with – and those I will work with in the future!” (New Zealand fundraising consultant)