How to design successful orientation for new board members

How to design successful orientation for new board members

Jill Holtz: Hi everyone. Today I'm joined by two governance leaders who have built what I consider to be very thoughtful approaches to onboarding new board members. First we have Liz Thompson who is executive assistant to the president and corporate secretary and corporate compliance officer at Presbyterian Senior Care Network which oversees complex care across multiple sites and services in Western Pennsylvania. You're very welcome to the podcast Liz.

Liz Thompson: Thank you, thanks for inviting me. Happy to be here.

Jill Holtz: And I'm also delighted to be joined by Chandu Vemuri who is Executive Assistant for the Board and Superintendent Leadership at Sun Prairie School District in Wisconsin. And they serve a K12 student community with 15 schools and public accountability to students, families and taxpayers. So you're very welcome to Chandu.

Chandu Vemuri: Thanks for the invite, and I'm excited to be here with you and Liz.

Jill Holtz: Lovely. So the reason I've invited you both today is to talk about how to design successful orientation for new board members. What works, what doesn't and how mission driven organisations, whether that be a non-profit, a community bank, a school district, a local government organisation, how they can be more intentional about setting new directors and board members up for success from day one.

Why does a well-designed board orientation matter?

So Liz, to kick us off, from your perspective, why is a well-designed orientation so critical for board members of non-profit organizations today? Why does this matter?

Liz Thompson: Okay, well I think in order for board members to be effective in their roles, they need to be familiar with your organization and its mission first. So you would want to provide them an overview of who they are serving. They also need to understand the importance of being good stewards as they are trusted with governing and guiding the critical decisions of your organization.

So in the nonprofit world, board members are required to uphold the legal duties of care, loyalty, and obedience, which basically means the board acts with prudence and responsibility in their decision-making. They keep the organization's best interests in top of mind, and they are faithful to the mission. So essentially, the reason it matters is because the mission of the organization matters.

Jill Holtz: Absolutely. Chandu, thinking then about say a public school district context, what's at stake if new board members who have been elected aren't properly oriented to their roles and responsibilities?

Chandu Vemuri: So I think the biggest risk is role confusion. I mean, we have an elected school board, so there is a political aspect to it. sometimes, you know, people who run for the school board come on with a platform and they get to the board table and, you know, it's like, wait, that's not what I thought I was supposed to be doing. So if we don't onboard them correctly, kind of what Liz said, like, what is our mission? What is our role in leading the organization? How do we best represent our taxpayers, which they are accountable to, and serve our students and community? you know, that big thing about coming in and like they're making all these decisions. No, you need to govern at a very high policy level and that's where you're at. it just keeps the lines clear of where the superintendent CEO lane is, where a board member lane is. So I think that's super important. we have so many, like Liz was pointing to legal requirements, we have to be very careful. There's a lot of laws that govern school districts and board members, and we just have to make sure that they understand all those legal implications if they, you know, get out of their lane. two very important things for them, right, at the get-go.

Designing an effective orientation program

Jill Holtz: So just to recap what I've heard is that they know what the mission is, what their role is, how that relates to the other members of the governance team and kind of executive leadership, what they should and shouldn't be doing, what the legal responsibilities are, duty of care, et cetera. And if they don't have that good grounding to start, then they're really going to struggle to be effective and have the impact that they thought they would have either if they volunteered for the board or if they stood for election as well. So in terms of designing an effective orientation program, Liz, can you tell us about your onboarding experience for a new board member at Presbyterian Senior Care Network?

Liz Thompson: Certainly. We started off once the director is elected, we send them a welcome message from the CEO, just welcoming them to the organization, letting them know that they were elected. We do provide them their board job description and we do collect a conflict of interest disclosure right away. And then I step in with the onboarding and it starts with activating their Diligent One account because that's probably the most key thing. We use BoardEffect on Diligent One. So I get them in there right away so that they get used to, know, this is the platform that they're going to use to access their materials. And then my process, my orientation and onboarding is actually a self-guided process within BoardEffect. So it's a series of tasks that I assign to them. Such things as we have them watch an orientation video about how to use BoardEffect. We have a video in there all about our organization and what it means to serve for our organization on the board. We also collect some personal information like demographics and skills data from them that we are able to do within BoardEffect.

We make sure they have a device, a portable device that they can bring to board meetings and if they don't, we provide them one. So that's another task that they have to answer a question in there. And then the process ends with one of our, a member of our leadership team meeting with them one-on-one just to close the loop, make sure they don't have any questions about what's expected of them. And then we assign a peer mentor. So another board member that's serving on the board with them for their first year, just to kind of have someone to sit next to throughout the year and guide them and answer their questions. And if you have a really good board mentor, it's very beneficial and it makes all the difference for the new director for their first year experience.

Jill Holtz: I love that. It seems like you've got a really step by step process as well. And the fact that they can do it on their time, because after all, whether you're serving on a non-profit board or as a publicly elected school district board member, you have another job, you have family, you have other commitments. So designing that in a kind of step by step way sounds really effective. Chandu, could you walk us through the orientation experience for a newly elected school board member in your district? How does that work?

Liz Thompson: Yes. Right. Right.

Chandu Vemuri: Yeah, sure. So a lot of what Liz said, obviously, is things we do as well. Our orientation starts because we follow an election cycle governed by the state of Wisconsin. December is our date when people have to state that they're running for school board for April elections. So what we do is the previous November, so right around November, just before we go to Thanksgiving break, we host an event that says, are you interested in running for school board? And we give them, it's attached to a board meeting. So then they get the opportunity to stay at a board meeting and kind of see. I think that's a very important part of our orientation. Like we welcome people because they're public meetings to our board meeting and see how the board operates. So they have kind of an idea. So we start there, then they file their paperwork, they go through the election cycle. The minute they get elected, our state school board association right away, I inform them and then they get an email from the state board association and get invited to a whole bunch of onboarding through the state. So that's nice. The our Wisconsin school board association takes care of that. For me, there's basically three steps, like Liz said. There's the technical, like, welcome, here's your district email. It's very important that you use your district email to conduct board business, because we are public institution, and everything you do as a board member is a public record. So it's easier for us to have them use a district email. So that. We give them a device if they need one. Set them up in our Diligent Community, use Community. So they get set up. They have to go in and become a member, sign in, get their password. So much easier than previously with BoardDocs because they get to do it and they know their password and they can reset it when they want. And then generally, they come in and they meet with me and our superintendent and have a welcome to the district. What questions can I answer for you?

Right away in May we will call in our attorneys to do the whole legal and so that's like the second part There's the technical like welcome. Here's your the things you need second is the legal This is what you need to know. This is open records law. This is open meetings law like please don't email Everyone in the board at the same time because you are walking quorum then and And then there's that third one is, I don't know, it's more of like the how do we behave as a board member and it's just kind of like that fuzzy, that fuzzy lane. It's not really, it's kind of legal, kind of technical.

Jill Holtz: Culture.

Chandu Vemuri: They are, I mean, it is a political office, but they are there for the mission of the school district and generally they should be governing at the higher level at a policy level. So it's just important that that part of their onboarding that they understand their role.

Jill Holtz: I think that's really important setting the expectations about norms and behaviour. And as a follow on question to both of you, how do you decide which information belongs in that initial orientation window or what becomes part of ongoing board development? Chandu, I'll come back to you first for that answer.

Chandu Vemuri: Yeah, so our board has been pretty proactive in this and so we do have an onboarding plan. So they know right away this is what you're expected to do. We suggest you go to these trainings right away that you meet with the Superintendent. You meet with our president and our governance officer so you become familiar with our policies on how you conduct yourself as a board member. So that is really, really important.

Jill Holtz: Yeah. And then Liz, what do you deliberately do kind of in those first 30, 60 days versus what can wait until later in the year?

Liz Thompson: Okay, first I'll just compare with Chandu. Like it sounds like her onboarding is structured because of the election cycles and mine is rolling. Like I get new board members anytime throughout the year we can we can bring on new board members so I always have to be ready and there's always people in the process or starting the process. So those first 30 days I would say from when someone's elected until they're going to attend their first board meeting you know could be tight.But because our process is self-guided, which is what I explained earlier, they can accomplish that as long as they put their mind to it and they can do it at their own speed, but it's doable. And then I would say anything after that would just be advising them of where we have resource materials in our board effect library that they could look at if they're interested in seeing the bylaws and things like that. I show them where they can find all of that. And that's afterward. That's after they go through that initial orientation and get settled. then like education and sharing of resources comes later.

Jill Holtz: Yeah, I hear you. Because I think it's too overwhelming otherwise to cover everything in the first while. And I mean, there's such a link between good governance coming from good orientation to start with, but then also that you're on a continuous learning journey rather than it just be a one and done. that's it. You you're always learning how to be a better board member, aren't you, as you go.

Liz Thompson: Mm-hmm, exactly. Right.

Orientation in context

Jill Holtz: So let's talk about orientation again in terms of kind of board composition and context. Chandu, public school boards, as you mentioned, they're very visible, often face very intense community attention. How does that influence your orientation? How are you supporting new members who may be stepping into governance for the first time? As we mentioned, often they're part time, they've other jobs and commitments.

Chandu Vemuri: Sure, yeah, and it's a commitment and we have a board that, you know, I think part of the pre onboarding is just letting them know what our schedule is. Like, we do meet. These are the two days we meet. And you have other commitments beyond just the regular board meetings. you know, they have liaison ships to all of our sites. So there is a commitment as a board member, you're a public official, you're out there, the community expects you to be visible.

So it's kind of like setting that expectation for them that some of this is expected of you and it's kind of good to give them that before they decide they're going to, you know, submit their paperwork to run. And, you know, it's a balancing act. mean, these people are, like you said, they're residents. They have kids in our schools, they're parents, so they come at it with so many hats that they're wearing. And that's why that onboarding is so important because their role as a board member, like sometimes you have to take off the parent hat, sometimes you have to take off the taxpayer hat, you know, and they ultimately could be the arbitrator of, I don't want to say, kind of like a court of appeals. And so they have to really present themselves as like unbiased elected members, which it's difficult. It's a difficult balancing act for them. So I think that's where things get confusing and some board members struggle with that. They're caring people and they want what's best for our students and the taxpayers and those things are consistently up against each other. yeah, just supporting them and knowing and it helps, as Liz said, to have a board member where they can sit next to during a board meeting just to see because in the first few stages they're like they don't want to make a motion or they don't quite know and right and we were just there we just let them know if you have a question just turn your mic on and ask it we can ask questions during the meeting so making them feel comfortable.

Jill Holtz: Yeah, they might be nervous. So there's a lot of support around expectations, nurturing that behaviour, support, making them feel supported, isn't there? Liz, you've obviously a slightly different situation in Presbyterian. You've got kind of your volunteer board members. They've been nominated and elected to the board, but you're also operating in a highly regulated environment, maybe because of its health and senior care. How does that shape what you prioritise in orientation?

Liz Thompson: So I think one of the biggest things that we focus on, we include it in an explanation in our board orientation process. And it's also in their board job description is about advocacy and how important the board's role in advocacy is for us. You know, speaking out on our behalf to our public officials on topics and regulations that might impact the care that we provide. So I just think that's really important that the board understands that and that they have somewhat of a role in that we do help them and advise them. We have a national and a state association that will provide us, you know, talking points and we have, you know, letters, template letters that we ask them to send and they do and they all do it, you know, because when we guide them and make it easy for them, but it really can make an impact. So, again, I think it just continues to point back to your mission and your values and upholding that.

How do you set expectations around behavior on the board

Jill Holtz: Yeah, absolutely. And to that point about values and going back to the culture that we talked about in board dynamics, Liz, how do you introduce expectations around behaviour, constructive challenge, speaking up? How does that work in your organisation?

Liz Thompson: So during the actual recruitment process for candidates interested in board service, we make sure we explain the expectation and our culture. It's clearly outlined in the board job description, which we do give them upfront, not just when they're elected and approved. We clearly outline the expectations of serving as the board collectively and also serving as the board as an individual. So there's expectations of how you should act and uphold and meet our culture. We have these conversations about our missions and values and culture of our organization early on so that they understand and they can match up and say, yes, this is for me and this is an organization I would want to assist. And we explain to them our core values upfront and that board members should mirror those. A board composition of talent that fits your organization and culture is essential.

Jill Holtz: Yeah, so you've maybe got slightly more scope to bring new board members on that fit certain skills as well, whereas Chandu, in a school district setting, as you said, it was people standing for election. But like you mentioned, they may come in thinking, oh, I want to get a new sports coach or I don't like the colour of the paint on the whatever. How do you help new board members understand the line between their role, the superintendent's role, the broader leadership team, and also as you mentioned there Liz, the kind of collective rather than the individual as well. I'm interested in that.

Chandu Vemuri: We had a previous board member and a board president explain it this way. So the board really decides the destination. So they decide like what they want to see as far as student achievement, student personal development. I mean, our policies lay that out. And the superintendent and his team are the bus drivers. They're going to figure out, they're the experts and they will figure out how we get there. What curriculum we purchase, you know, what buildings we need to build, who to hire. The board has one employee and that's the superintendent and then the superintendent is responsible for all the other hiring. So it's that analogy is kind of nice. We create the board map, the roadmap to get there, and the board decides we're going to Florida, and superintendent's like, okay, we're gonna go on, I don't know, I-95 South. I don't know what the roads are to get to Florida. But that's generally, and that's just easier to understand, and still there is some role confusion about wait, you know, we have to approve the, you know, $1 million investment we are making in this. And sometimes, you know, it feels like they're just a rubber stamp, which they are not. mean, they're, one of their biggest responsibilities is to the taxpayers of this community who have, who are investing a lot of money in our school district. So, but it comes through like conversations and sit down talks and, you know, I think keeping that line of communication open and then also like once that decision is made, you make a decision collectively as a board. You're seven people. Once that decision is made, that's the decision and we move forward with that decision. And you may personally not agree with it, but I think that's the way we've tried to explain it to them.

Technology and its role in supporting orientation

Jill Holtz: Yeah, that sounds clear. So moving on to technology, obviously at Diligent, we sell software for mission driven organisations. We Board Effect for non-profits, Diligent Community for our public facing boards. We're very passionate about that. Helps board members be even more prepared for better oversight. Liz, can I ask you just to mention some board effect features that you use to support orientation? I know you've already mentioned a couple of things. What do board members also tell you about that, using those?

Liz Thompson: Sure. Well, I rely completely on my Diligent One platform using BoardEffect for my process. As I mentioned, it is self-guided, but everything sits in there. And I did mention we assign tasks, but actually that is a feature in BoardEffect tasks that you can build in and assign. So I assign those tasks of what they need to do, the steps they need to follow. And then I also use, I mentioned how I collect personal and demographics and skills data and how I do that is through the custom fields. It's built into their profile. So I instruct them how to go in there and answer all my questions in there about the demographics and what skills they bring. And then we do ask them to update that every year so that that's always current. And BoardEffect generates some nice reports out of there that our governance committee can use to help with recruitment. So I really rely on BoardEffect a lot for my orientation. And I know that it's working because I get compliments and some people will say, wow, like that was the best orientation that I've ever had. And I've served on a lot of boards. wasn't boring. I could do it at my own speed. Everything's there. So they really like it.

Jill Holtz: That's the best feedback, isn't it, that you're doing the right job.

Liz Thompson: Right.

Jill Holtz: Chandu, from your perspective, how has technology such as Diligent Community changed the expectations for how quickly and effectively your new board members can get up to speed? How is the technology supporting that orientation?

Chandu Vemuri: Sure, it's a game changer. We used to be with BoardDocs and recently in the last two years we've switched over to community. First of all, it really helps us because, again, as a public institution we have records retention policies and there's things we have to keep forever. And you can imagine storage is limited when it's paper and 25 years ago, everybody walked in with a big old packet of material and that's just like messy and like if you don't have access to that packet

Liz Thompson: Right.

Chandu Vemuri: As member of the public that the board is accountable to, the transparency is not. So it's transparent, I mean, everything is in there. And if you're planning on running for the board or you're an existing board member and you want to learn about something in the past, you can search. And I love the new search function on Community. So much better than BoardDocs, but it does provide a platform that they can access. They can look at our policies. They can look at past board meetings, we you know we live stream our meetings but they are recorded so there there's just so many amazing features it's transparent and it serves as a you know a record that will be there forever so yeah.

Jill Holtz: Yeah, I think for both softwares, it's the fact that you have a central location for those materials, those training resources, but the meeting archives as well, you know, that they understand why a decision was made even before their time. You protect that institutional knowledge. It gives them access to the past decisions. And then as they get up and running on their board meetings, that you have a digital packet that has everything there for them.

Liz Thompson: Yes.

Chandu Vemuri: Okay.

Tips for designing board member orientation

Jill Holtz: It's much easier than trying to sift through a big paper bundle, isn't it? And never mind updating it if things change. Liz, do you have any other tips for when you come to design your orientation? And I'm also interested in hearing how do you know? I know you've mentioned people saying, this is the best orientation. Are there any other signals that you look for from new trustees over the first year?

Liz Thompson: Well, I think when a board member, you know, after their first or second board meeting and they grab you after the meeting and say, you know, they bring their little iPad or laptop up and show me where I can find this or that, you know, and because they're really interested in using the platform to its fullest to learn and to, you know, understand the organization. So that makes it really important. It's not just a one time thing that you like, you know, upload policies and upload bylaws and things you want to make sure all of your information in there is current. So it is a job. It's not just a, you know, put it in there and forget it. You have to make sure everything that you have in there is current because I put in my strategic plans, you know, the policies and then if the policies change, you got to upload them. So you just want to make sure all of your information besides the archives, but the current stuff is current. So that's one tip is just to always be in there checking it, you know, maybe every quarter go in and make sure you have the current information. One thing I always do is annually I review the orientation, kind of the outline of it with my governance committee and just make sure they don't have any suggestions because they might think of something that you forgot about and then once you have something in place you might think, it's good enough. But it's always good to evaluate it. The governance committee, if you have one, is a good place to ask for feedback on your orientation program, on the content of it and on all.

Jill Holtz: A great tip. Chandu, do you have any other tips to share for what's worked in the public education environment?

Chandu Vemuri: Yeah, I think just to make them feel comfortable with asking questions like no question is a silly question. I know when you're sitting at a public meeting and there's people, community members in the audience, you may feel like, should I ask that question? But then pick up the phone prior to the meeting and, you know, ask your question, get your question answered. Feel free to come and meet the superintendent and have that one-on-one conversation. We proactively do that ahead of time. So you're building that relationship, meet the assistant superintendents, go to your liaison schools, you know, learn about it's we have 15 sites. So it's hard for a board member to do all of them. So we give them like one or two places. So you may not understand like the big old strategic plan. But when you go to that site and you sit down with the principal and you ask like the strategic plan, how is that board? What are you doing in your school? You know, how is that affecting it? How is that affecting your students. And remember that in the end, know, like Liz was talking about, like what is our mission and vision? The main people we are mainly serving is our students. We want them to achieve and be the person that they want to be. I think remembering why they are there as a steward of public money and serving students and feeling free to make those, build those relationships with the administration. It's not us versus them. We're a team in this. We're a governance team and that's what we call ourselves. We call ourselves the governance team, the board, elected board and the leaders, the superintendent team and me. They include me in that, which is awesome. I think that's, you know, that's really helped.

Advice for board secretaries on board member orientation

Jill Holtz: Yeah, I love all those tips. I'd love to also ask you both. So if a board administrator or school secretary, school board secretary is listening to this and they realize that the orientation is just basically a single presentation or stack of documents, what's the kind of most impactful change you'd suggest they make in the next set of orientation? Chandu, what do you what would you suggest?

Chandu Vemuri: I think inundating them with paper is really difficult. Like sometimes, you know, for me, I think it's most important that they see me as someone, as a resource for them. And I want to build a trusting relationship with them. It's because we report to the superintendent, but we also serve the board, it kind of puts us in an interesting balancing act of our relationships, but they should always look to me as a resource. I tell, that's I think our number one job is to build that relationship with them. So yes, the papers, the orientation part, getting them up to speed on the laws and all that is, but they should always feel like they can pick up the phone and I will answer it and try the best I can answer their question or put them in touch with someone and our organization who can answer that question. So I think for me it's, yes, that all that stuff is important and they need to know that, but first they need to see us as a trusted partner in this whatever they've stepped into.

Jill Holtz: Trusted. Yeah. Liz, what about you? What kind of most impactful change would you suggest if they've kind of gone the more single orientation document route before?

Liz Thompson: Yeah, I really like Chandu's answer because I didn't think of that, you know, like the relationship piece first and being a resource to them. But as far as the stack of documents, I'd say get them into your board platform. Any way you can get the board members acclimated to the technology that you're going to use up front and right away will be most beneficial to you. So, you know, make use of it. Don't send them papers.

Get them into the platform and get them used to looking around and finding things But you are the resource if they can't find it

Jill Holtz: That's great. So I'm just going to ask you as we finish off today, because I'm conscious you're such busy people and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today. So I'm going to ask you both the same question. Maybe this is just a recap of everything in one sound bite. But Liz, I'll start with you. What is one piece of advice you would give to board administrator that wants to design their onboarding so that new members feel confident, engaged and effective as quickly as possible?

Chandu Vemuri: Mm-hmm.

Liz Thompson: Well, if you're not sure what to do, your platform. I mean, I actually talked with some of the folks from BoardEffect, my customer success representative, they're the ones that suggested, why don't you use the tasks feature? I had, like, I knew tasks were there, but I had no clue how to, never dove into it. And so they helped me and they showed me how they work and did a little one-on-one with me. So, you know, don't be afraid to ask the source at Diligent and for any help or suggestions on how to go about designing your program. And then another thing would be once you do get going with it, maybe look back at maybe the last two or five board members that you oriented and do a little survey or an interview or just even call them up and say, know, like, what did you think of that? Give me honest feedback. Is there anything I can improve?

Chandu Vemuri: Yeah.

Liz Thompson: Or anything you want to recommend because that's how you continue to improve your onboarding as well.

Jill Holtz: I love that. Thank you, Liz. And Chandu, what's one piece of advice you would give to board clerk that wants to design onboarding so that the newly elected members feel confident, engaged and effective as quickly as possible?

Chandu Vemuri: I just love Liz's idea about the survey and checking in with our recent elected members, maybe like six months in, like how do you feel it went and what can we do? What would have been good for you to know earlier than, you know, that you've had to learn? Again, I'm just gonna go back to like, build that relationship and have, you know, empathy like sometimes you come in and you've come on this platform and you want to do this this this and you get on the board and I think sometimes it's frustrating for them that they feel like they wanted to make all this change and sometimes you know they didn't understand the board the board's role and I think it's really important to let talk through with them early on, like this is where we govern. This is where we make the most impact for our students and our community. I think that, again, instead of getting all the technical and the legal and bringing in our attorneys to scare them about open meetings laws and public records, that we're a team in the end. And what we do together is going to be the best for our students and our community. So I think the more they can do to build that themselves as a team and do professional development together and gel like that, I think that goes a long way. Because otherwise, I think you'll get stuck in things that aren't helping the organization, are not helping students.

Jill Holtz: I love that. Thank you so much, Chandu. So I want to say a huge thanks to both of you for joining me today. It's been so interesting to hear what's worked for you both for orientation of board members. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and talk to me about this today. And I will put up links to our onboarding guides that we have in the show notes as well. So thank you very much, both of you.

Liz Thompson: You're welcome. My pleasure.

Chandu Vemuri: Thank you so much for inviting me. It's been really fun.