Keep Your Board Engaged During Covid-19

Ensuring your board remains engaged during Covid-19 is critical.

Ongoing communication should be maintained to keep board members apprised of situations affecting your organization. The board should be kept informed on financial status, staff changes, additional service demands, and alterations to programming and events. Let them know how you and your team are personally coping with the challenge at hand.

Make sure your board is first in your communication chain so they’re not surprised with news they may hear elsewhere. On major decisions solicit board input before taking action.

As you develop plans for “what’s next” reach out to your board members for their advice. Get them engaged with determining how the organization will move forward.

A priority for keeping board members engaged is to remember they are being personally affected by the same issues everyone else is. Stay in touch so you’ll know how they’re doing.

Here are four resources to help you with board engagement during Covid-19. Thank you to each for your insight.

• Gail Perry has excellent advice for board member leadership during uncertain times.
• This BoardSource blog post by Gigi Woodruff provides tips for maintaining board relationships in a crisis.
• Jean Tickell’s post on the BoardSource blog shows how to tap into the strength of your board.
• Bloomerang’s blog post by Tom Iselin offers seven things your board can do to lead in times of crisis.

Keeping your board engaged will allow your organization to utilize a valuable asset as you work through this difficult time.  Please share how you’re working with your board during Covid-19. Please comment below and share your ideas. 

Stay safe!