Maximizing Your Board Members’ Time
Good Experiences Increase The
Likelihood of Repeat Performances

Rita J. Galowich, President, Fund Inc®
In strategic alliance with Jeffrey Byrne & Associates, Inc., Midwest Region

A board member’s time is a precious commodity. This is more the fact today than ever before, because busy schedules make everyone feel stretched to the max.

We like to think that when a director has accepted the responsibility of serving on a board, he or she has given the position considerable thought, weighing these new and important obligations against their own personal available time. That is the nature of a volunteer position; one is asked to contribute one’s limited personal time to an organization.

As staff, we often forget that volunteers are just that—volunteers. Although volunteers are not getting paid for the work they perform, they are nonetheless expected to perform. They also have other professional and personal commitments that demand their time and attention. Board members have made a conscious decision to share this valuable commodity of time with your organization. For this reason, professional staff must respect this generous gift that is being made to their organization.

How do you maximize the limited amount of time a board member, or any volunteer for that matter, has to give to your organization? I suggest you keep in mind the following guidelines:

1. Know exactly what you want a board member to do before asking them to do it. Be as specific as possible with your request.
2. Have a beginning and end date in mind for each activity you request a board member to accomplish. Communicate that timeline. Volunteers should not worry that their commitment will go on forever!
3. Be sure what you are asking them to do cannot be done faster, easier, better—or, more appropriately—by staff.
4. Provide all the necessary resources and staffing needed to get the job done right and in a timely manner.
5. Make the accomplishment of your request as easy as possible to achieve by providing the board member with necessary tools (e.g. self-addressed, stamped return envelopes; easy to read and respond to lists; phone call rosters; specific instructions, etc.)
6. Consider whether or not the board member has the skills, knowledge and expertise to accomplish what you are asking them to do.
7. Assess the time the board member has already given to your organization before asking for that “extra” project. Consider the number of committee or task force meetings they are already committed to attend. Will they have the time and inclination to do this new task also—the way it should be done?
8. Is this board member the best person for the job?
9. Will they enjoy taking on this task? (Although this is certainly not a prerequisite, it does help motivate volunteers and keep them engaged if they enjoy what they are doing—so contributing their time does not begin to seem like a burden.)
10. Is there a cost involved in the activity? Will they feel they are already giving a lot of time and enough money, and that this is an inappropriate expectation?

This list of “time maximizers” is by no means exhaustive. I am sure each of you can add to it. The important thing to remember is that by giving careful consideration to how you use your board members’ time, you motivate and encourage each of them to continue sharing this precious commodity with your organization. Good experiences increase the likelihood of repeat performances.