2025 GOVERN for IMPACT Conference

Equipping Boards Chairs for Leadership – practical tools for orienting and equipping a new Board Chair to help him/her be as ready as possible for the Chair’s position.

This Table Talk will share tips drawn from nearly 30 years of Policy Governance experience, energized by facilitator training under Roger Schwarz to help surface tools that you can use to enable Board Chairs to become more effective,

A successful Chair is a product of understanding what qualifications are needed in the role, selecting new board members with a view that some will grow into potential Chairs, and orienting each new Chair well.
And, while intervening upstream is ideal, often the person selected as the Chair may not have been the person you expected and/or wanted. Our discussion and exercises are designed to help every Chair think well about processes they can implement that will give him/her fulfillment in their role and help the Board be successful.

Problematic governance scenarios will feed brainstorming on how Board leadership can move toward a solution. Policy Governance consistent handouts will include assumptions on the role of the Chair, guidelines for effective agenda planning, conditions for effective meeting culture, tips for facilitation and decision making, and a one-page simplified parliamentary principles which can be inserted in the Board Policy Manual.