Three Questions Your Board Should Ask Three Times a Year

Successful people say the same things over and over again.

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Successful organizations ask the same questions over and over again.

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When your Board gathers, what are you asking?

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Of course, there are ongoing questions about budgets, goals, strategy, vision, etc. that you ask depending on the focus of the season.

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But there are three questions every Board should ask three times a year.

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1. How is our organization advancing our mission?  

• Our Board exists to keep the organization on mission. 
• This question focuses us on what matters most and helps us say no to the good to say yes to the great.
• This requires each Board member being able to clearly articulate the WHY for the organization.  

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2. How is the health of our organization?  

• We cannot stay on mission if we cannot stay IN the mission.
• This question checks our sustainability.  
• It requires that our Board be able to define health. 

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3. What is the health of our CEO/Executive Director/Lead Pastor?

• Our Board is responsible to hire, fire, protect, and assess the Point Leader.
• We must proactively lean into this question–not wait until “something happens.”
• It is extremely difficult for Point Leaders to initiate these conversations–the Board must step up.

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Why three times a year?

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Less than this, and there is not the chance to course correct.  Problems brew and stew under the surface and it is harder to get ahead of the issue.  More than this, and we risk navel-gazing, focusing too much on the inside.  And with too much frequency, the questions can become rote and routine.

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Bonus Idea:   At your next Board Retreat, devote one session to each of these questions.  The goal is to define ahead of time what a great answer will look like (metrics) to each of these. 

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I'd love to talk with you more about this. Shoot me an email and let's start clarifying what your Board is really asking today.

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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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