Board Education - Many Want It. Do You Provide It?

Over the course of my career, I've worked with numerous Boards. Frequently, the Board composition is diverse. There may be business-savvy professionals, along with community advocates, physicians, religious leaders and others. The level of understanding of the business they govern, programs and services, financial reporting, strategic planning principles, regulatory matters, etc., may vary widely from member to member.

The more knowledgeable a Board is with regard to the matters critical to their governance responsibilities, the more effective they will be. Of no less importance, I have always felt senior management will be more challenged to achieve objectives, and will be empowered to collaborate with the Board as a team under such circumstances.

It's also been my experience that individual Board members may be hesitant to request education on particular issues, for various reasons. With that in mind, it behooves management to work with Board leadership in developing ongoing Board education. The first step is to determine those areas of knowledge that are a) desired by the Board and b) believed by management to be important, particularly in light of the specific circumstances of the organization.

The venues and types of education can be of many types. Here are a few suggestions:

Develop a new Board member orientation package. This can include such items as: a set of by-laws; Board committees; an organization chart; a list of those policies and procedures of most relevance to the board, for example, human resources and compliance-related policies; a standard financial reporting package; and any other materials deemed important.

The orientation package should be walked through by one or more senior managers in detail with the new member. For example, depending on the members business experience, the CFO may review the financial statements in terms of the meaning of the Balance Sheet, Statement of Income & Expenses and Statement of Cash Flow.
(S)he would then review the meaning of each line item. Finally, (s)he would review key metrics and their importance. If this type of orientation has not previously been done, a presentation might be made, as an agenda item, to the full Board.

Create a standing agenda item for the Board meeting, where a Department Manager makes a 10 or 15 minute presentation regarding their particular specialty and how it interacts with the rest of the organization. This is effective not only in education terms, but personalizes the organization and has a positive impact on morale.

Dedicate a special meeting to a particular subject. The presenters can be internal or external. For example, one or more representatives of  the Board's Strategic Planning Committee, or if necessary an engaged external consultant, could explain how the planning process works. Then, senior management can describe how the plan is integrated into day-to-day operations. For example (if this was true of your organization), you could indicate how the 5-year Strategic Plan drives the annual Business Plan, which drives the Management Action Plan (assigning tasks, responsibilities and timetables), which in turn drives the annual Operating and capital Budgets.

Concurrent with posting this, I raised the question of the importance of Board education, with a LinkedIn group, the Healthcare Executives Network. Linda Ollis, FACHE, a CEO, provided the following excellent suggestions, which I thought worth adding to the post: "As a CEO, I used as many expert resources as possible for general education from local experts to the Governance Institute. Membership in organizations like the Advisory Board, Sg2 and others, generally includes board level presentations that are oriented towards general market issues and legislative/reimbursement changes while the state hospital association and experts from public health, insurers, etc. can provide more depth to local and regional issues. I like to follow these presentations with open discussion and board dialogue, linking it to our strategic plan and organizational challenges. We also shared key issues from "Trustees" magazine that have a lay board focus and orientation. Board education is one of the most critical aspects of the CEO's responsibilities."

You get the idea. Board education is critical. It makes for a more informed, interesting and exciting governance process. What are you waiting for?