Board GEMs

Okay – we’re biased.  We’re biased towards competence in favour of diversity when it comes to board leadership.

There are funders who have been known to mandate the inclusion of clients on the board of the organizations they support.  In this ‘he who has the gold makes the rules’ scenario, the politically ‘correct’ funder unwittingly exposes the organization to risks:  risks that occur when client directors arrive at the board table to intractably uphold the interests of the clients they ‘represent’ rather than vote in the best interests of all owners (or the community in the case of social services organizations); leadership risk that occurs when well-meaning clients simply don’t have the experience, skills and/or EQ (emotional intelligence) to provide appropriate oversight and direction-setting to the complex, often multi-faceted organizations that exist today. 

Don’t get us wrong – we’re all for diversity.  Studies have shown that diverse groups of average performers are more innovative than homogeneous groups of high-performers. (*1) Global companies have long recognized that in addition to better problem-solving capacity, other benefits of diversity include access to markets and enhanced consumer intelligence.  Furthermore, diverse boards are more likely to articulate an inclusive governance style that builds community trust.  And given Canada’s multi-cultural mosaic which includes, on average, 16% visible minorities (*2), there is good potential to create competent, skills-based, diverse boards.  We promote that. 

It’s just that there are other ways to bring client perspectives to the board without electing or appointing them as board members. 

What Can You Do?

1.  Get clear about the competencies you need around your board table and make it a top priority to find people who bring the needed skills – even if it means accepting a less “diverse” board for a little longer.

2.  As part of your monitoring responsibilities, gather client perspectives on the quality, priorities and cultural competence of service delivery using techniques such as establishing an advisory committee, holding focus groups, or surveying clients. 

3.  Collect demographic information on your community so you can make informed decisions for board recruitment purposes.  Question:  Does your board make-up reflect the reality that currently 57% of college students in the US (*3) and 57.5% of Canadian university students (*4) are women? 

4.  Devote time to achieve a shared definition of diversity appropriate for your community and board.  Like York University, you might even set a board policy and a related measurable goal (York’s target is to reflect student population and its geographic community). (*5)

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*1) See work done by Scott Paige, University of Michigan
*2) Statistics Canada, 2006 census – in Toronto and Vancouver, visible minorities make up 43% and 42% of the population, respectively. 
*3) “What Women Want Now”, Time (magazine) Special Report
*4) Statistics Canada, 2007/08 school year
*5) From “Diversity Matters – Changing the Face of Public Boards”, a publication of the Maytree Foundation.  www. maytree.com/ policy-library/research-reference