Your Unwritten Job Description: Keep Everyone Happy
Have you ever experienced the emotional whiplash of serving as a governing board leader, especially in a community setting?
Sometimes as a leader you might feel as though you are sitting in the intersection with traffic swarming around you on every side; so many perspectives, ideas, and maybe even frustrations flooding you - sometimes there’s even trauma. Congregational members have expectations of you, which have often gone unspoken. As a board member, you have assumptions about your role, which have perhaps gone undiscussed. The shadows of former leaders, past pillars of the congregation, and memories of conflict or trauma lurk in dark corners, often felt but rarely discussed. The leader of the organization has their own thoughts about expectations, roles, and how they want to lead, which may not align with those of the board or other key leadership.
So how can you live into your commitment to serve on the governing board in healthy ways? It is challenging to fulfill responsibilities if those responsibilities have never been discussed or negotiated. And it’s not uncommon for some board members to understand the unwritten job description for the governing team to be, “Keep everyone happy.” Due to the complexity of the role and its responsibilities, it is paramount that individuals and teams have, know, and hold healthy boundaries.
~ Excerpt written by Cindy Halvorson in LeaderWise’s Boards and Boundaries: Leadership Essentials
Does Cindy’s description sound familiar to you?
That’s why we, the facilitators of LeaderWise boundaries trainings, wrote a book just for you: Boards and Boundaries: Leadership Essentials.
Because conversations about boundaries are essential to healthy governance, we fashioned Boards and Boundaries as a workbook for board members. The workbook guides users to create clarity about roles, authority, accountability, and the relationships that allow boards, clergy, and leaders to flourish together. Clarity happens in our dialogue with one another. When boundaries are understood and honored, communities become healthier, wiser, and better equipped to live into their mission. We’ve seen it!
Boards and Boundaries brings together concepts, practical guidance, real-world examples, and years of experience helping governing boards navigate some of their most important challenges.
To give you a glimpse inside, we offer this exercise from the book:
How many hats do you wear? You can complete this exercise alone; however, it works best when completed and discussed together with fellow board members.
Set a timer for 5 minutes.
List all of your elected/appointed roles in your faith community (examples: board member, usher, etc.)
List all of your unofficial roles or jobs in your faith community (examples: social hour baker/buyer, money counter, ultimate decision maker, kitchen captain, etc.)
List any personal relationships you have with other members of the governing board.
Put one star next to the role where you feel the most alive and two stars next to the role where you feel some tension.
Notice with curiosity (not judgment): Look at your list. What do you notice? What do other board members notice about their lists?
Are there any roles with competing priorities? Any tensions?
What boundaries would help you in your current role on the board?
As you prepare for a new year of governance, consider how healthy boundaries could help you serve your mission. It is a great time to collect resources as you plan the year forward.
Order a copy of Boards and Boundaries for yourself or your board, $25/book.
Share this article with colleagues and fellow board leaders who would benefit from it.
Stay tuned! Follow LeaderWise on LinkedIn where we’ll be sharing tools and resources to get the most out of Boards and Boundaries.
