Top Ten Signs Your Board Needs Help

These are real life examples with the names omitted to protect the guilty. We didn't make these up. We couldn't make these up!

1. Board members deal with an important committee report by pointing out typos and correcting grammar.
    
2. When a board assessment is suggested, the response is, "We don't need to do that; we already know enough about ourselves."
    
3. Highlight of the board meeting is a spirited discussion of the color for the table drape at the upcoming trade show.
    
4. The board considers a discussion of the forces changing the industry a "waste of time," and tables it to discuss something that matters (see #3 above).
    
5. No plane ride to the meeting = unprepared board members.
    
6. The same proposal for changing membership categories has been raised and tabled three (or more) times in the past year
    
7. Two words: hidden agendas.
    
8. The board chair opens every meeting by saying, "I never follow the agenda."
    
9. Committee recommendations are regularly rejected or ignored – after all, the board knows best.
    
10. A successful meeting is one where a quorum is present to approve the minutes.

Also see Board Development Resources and Fundamentals for an Effective Board
 

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