Jim, Walt Stinson came to this weekend’s A&F meeting, and described his reasons for recommending and supporting ARRL’s membership in BoardSource. He made two points which I found especially persuasive. 1) While every Board has its particular issues, there are more commonalities among boards than differences. Walt said this as someone with experience on many boards over many years. The important implication is that ARRL doesn’t have to create or discover solutions to governance issues by itself, and can take advantage of the experience of other similar bodies. 2) We don’t know what we don’t know. There is likely some wisdom in the experience of other boards that we can derive benefit from, but in some cases, we won’t even know we could improve our practices if we don’t have access to what other groups have already found out. This doesn’t mean that we should unquestioningly change our practices, but our involvement with BoardSource may suggest some areas where improvements may benefit our members. Walt was an important and influential member for the years in which he was an ARRL Director. He has had years of experience with BoardSource and personal validation that its information can be helpful. I think these facts provide a recommendation for BoardSource that we should not ignore. Perhaps not every member of our current Board wishes to engage with BoardSource, and I think that is their prerogative. For those who are interested, however, it seems there is reason to expect some positive outcomes. 73, Greg, K0GW On Saturday, April 6, 2019, k6jat <k6jat@comcast.net> wrote:
Thank you for the response, Howard, but I remain unconvinced. While our Board certainly should pursue excellence and strive to inculcate the same objective in our staff, the Board's responsibilities run to the members who elected us, not to self-appointed outside consultants or directors of unrelated corporations and their objectives. Spending time on such endeavors is an unnecessary distraction from our primary duties.
With all due respect, you have attended a single meeting of the Board which, in my opinion, was one of the most "deliberative and generative" meetings of the Board in recent history. So, I fail to see what experience or standard your criticism of our Board is based upon. Indeed, the Board arrived at a number of tough decisions in that meeting which are very popular with the membership.
I have reviewed the paper you attached from BoardSource on Recommended Governance Practices, and I believe that our Board already follows 65% of those recommendations, 25% of which are irrelevant to our type of Board and about 10% are either unhelpful or counterproductive. I would welcome a Board discussion of whether involving ourselves with that organization is a productive use of our time, but I think you would find more interest in a focus on the consideration of policies to benefit our members.
73,
Jim K6JAT
Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S8.
-------- Original message -------- From: "Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO)" <wb2itx@arrl.org> Date: 4/4/19 4:25 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "Tiemstra, Jim, K6JAT" <K6JAT@comcast.net>, "Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO)" <wb2itx@arrl.org>, arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Subject: Re: [arrl-odv:28089] BoardSource
Hi Jim, Rod, ODV,
At the January A&F committee meeting, Director Ryan (Chairman) stated that Walton Stinson W0CP, wanted to make a donation to ARRL so that ARRL could become a corporate member of BoardSource. I jumped at the opportunity because I know of BoardSource and have used their resources at the IEEE, and seen their material being used at other large associations.
To quote from BoardSource "The nonprofit boards best equipped to lead their organizations are self-aware, function in constructive partnership with their chief executives, and are committed to continually improving their performance." Being self-aware and continually improving are things we should always strive for.
I think that the ARRL Board can improve. We can become a more effective deliberative and generative body. Let me say that again -- deliberative and generative. That is the key benefit of a Board, the ability to bring everyone's experience to bear on issues facing the organization, and together create something. The sum is greater than the parts.
I have attached a sample of paper from the BoardSource web site on Recommended Governance Practices. If you look at it, they have Essential Practices, Leading Practices, and Compliance Practices. It is informative, not dictatorial Some of these practices ARRL currently follows. Some we do not. But in the interest of continuous improvement, I think the Board should discuss them. We may chose to operate differently, but I believe it should be an informed decision based on documented best practices, and a honest look at ourselves.
Here is a list of sample topics with educational material from their web site. There is a wealth of information that we can benefit from. I hope that you will consider this in the spirit in which is it offered.
The Board-Staff Partnership Roles & Responsibilities Oversight & Accountability Strategy & Planning Fundraising Advocacy & Ambassadorship Structure, Committees, & Meetings Board Composition & Recruitment Orientation & Education Culture & Dynamics Executive Transition Executive Evaluation & Compensation Assessing Board Performance
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 04/04/2019 1:44 PM, Tiemstra, Jim, K6JAT wrote:
Howard,
I am troubled by your request. There are many sources of information concerning Board governance of non profit corporations. I have taken continuing legal education courses and reviewed written materials on the subject for my own edification, some were better than others. As expected, there also are differences of opinion among the experts, and different issues and concerns depending on the type and purpose of the entity of interest.
I have never heard of BoardSource, nor do I know of anything to recommend it, other than what I have read in your email which calls it "preeminent" without explanation or qualification. Also, I note that there is no description of what benefits the Board is expected to receive from this membership, other than the imposition of a survey on the Board members that promises to be "very enlightening."
Further, I don't recall the EC or Board approving acceptance of this membership. The failure to do so would seem to violate the resolution passed by the Board just this past January in Minute 39.
73,
*Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT*
*Pacific Division Director*
On April 3, 2019 at 1:25 PM "Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO)" < wb2itx@arrl.org> wrote:
Dear Officers, Directors and Vice Directors,
I am pleased to inform you that, because of a very generous gift from Walton Stinson W0CP, ARRL now has a corporate membership in BoardSource. BoardSource is recognized as the preeminent source of information on nonprofit governance and leadership development. This is their specialty, and I am very grateful to Walton for providing ARRL with access to this resource.
You will all shortly be receiving an invitation from BoardSource to activate your account. Please do not regard their email as spam. Once you register, you will have access to their extensive resource library.
One of BoardSource's key resources is their Board Self-Assessment Survey. BoardSource will set up a survey for us. This will take about 1-2 weeks. Once the survey is up and running, you will have 2-3 weeks to complete it. BoardSource then needs another 1-2 weeks to analyze the data and provide a report. I hope to have this report to present to the Executive Committee on May 20. I believe that it will be very enlightening.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
-- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 <https://maps.google.com/?q=225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111&entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org
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-- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 <https://maps.google.com/?q=225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111&entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org