Board revitalization
Posted by Matt Dean on June 13th, 2006
As a vendor for the credit union industry, my experience with CU boards has been limited to those times when we’ve been waiting on a board to approve a new website project. (We waited over a year and a half for approval of one of our proposals.) However, as the founder of a small corporation with a board of directors, the dynamic of the board/CEO relationship is an important topic.
George Hofheimer, Director of Research for the Filene Research Institute, delivered a terrific presentation on “Exceptional Boards! Board Competencies and Assessments.” (Actually, it was “exceptional boards! board competencies and assessments”—George stuck with the trendy lower-case throughout the slides.)
George asked the audience for their responses to the question “What is exceptional [in relation to the board]?” The responses were encouraging:
- Willing to change
- True to the CU philosophy
- Engaged and willing to learn
- Focused on the mission of the organization
- Strategically focused (as opposed to operationally focused)
The primarily challenge that boards face, however, is revitalization. Less than 12% of CU boards have a limit on the number of terms (close to half of the attendees had been on their board for over 10 years, with one attendee having served 37 years), but there’s also a struggle among many CUs to attract and recruit new board members. The audience mentioned that younger potential members are often busy with their children but also suggested creating a non-voting advisory board that meets once or twice a year.
Is there an opportunity for the under-30 crowd to serve in any capacity related to the board? As part of an advisory board, perhaps? I know a few guys who would be interested.
Younger,business-oriented people would jump on the opportunity to participate in an advisory board or board of directors. You right Matt, many boards don’t have limits and effectively shoot themselves in the foot by not allow “fresh blood” onto the board. As the credit union average member ages, it will be very important to have some younger faces on the board to ensure things are done to keep and attract a younger member base.
The boards of many small credit unions are composed of volunteers. They are mostly uncompensated, but never unappreciated. I served on our CU board for several years by taking “excutive” lunches at my regular job during board meetings. Apparently the people with the most free time to devote to credit unions and other institutions are retirees, who tend to be older. We would love to have younger members in the prime of their careers, but I believe many are reluctant to sacrifice time from thier primary “bill paying” responsibilities. We are open to suggestions.
Tom, that was definitely brought up at the session. Time can be tough to come by when you’re a younger member with a family, a job, and more commitments than time.
Do most boards have an advisory committe with fewer time commitments that could contain younger members?
Attracting younger board members is a tricky dance. Some credit unions have changed bylaws to allow remote access to board meeetings. This allows busy, young professionals the ability to attend meetings in a more convenient manner. Also, how many credit unions proactively target younger board members? In my experience very few…the conventional wisdom is that younger professionals are too busy with work, family, etc. to volunteer. I urge others to challenge conventional wisdom.