Moving Beyond the #BLM Statement with Board Diversity — The How

This Moving Beyond the #BLM Statement with Board Diversity blog is a series of three: Part 1 — The Context, Part 2 — The Why, Part 3 — The How

In Moving Beyond the #BLM Statement with Board Diversity: Part 1 — The Context of this blog series, provided examples of organizations with strong complementing responses, and shared common obstacles organizations face with their diversity, equity and inclusion strategies.

In Moving Beyond the #BLM Statement with Board Diversity: Part 2 — The Why of this blog series, reviewed the economic, marketing, and moral reasons why your organization should tackle board diversity now, and reviewed common challenges that often deter boards from realizing the benefits of board diversity.

Part 3 — The How

The time for change is now. Amid the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, the people expect action. Concrete steps need to be taken to turn this momentum into real change; diversifying our boards is one of those steps. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a difficult time, disrupting many businesses and changing the way we operate. This pandemic has driven many businesses to reset or reorganize, whether it’s moving to a virtual setting, changing fundraising/marketing models, righting values, or adjusting program structures and budgets; thus, this is the perfect time to diversify your board. If your board diversification is rolled out properly and your board members are enthusiastic, you will have increased productivity, creativity from varied perspectives, and a reputation boost.

The Part 2 -The Why blog provided the board diversity demographics, and the board diversity benefits and challenges. Let’s move to the actionable steps. A strong foundation must be laid by educating your board, assessing where your board stands today, and creating an inclusive environment.

This blog provides recommendations for your organization to get started, and provides the tools and resources necessary to make this an ongoing effort. The below recommendations are all excerpts from the book: Boost your Nonprofit Board: A Diversification Guide.

Assign Leader/Champion of Your Board Diversification Initiative

Whom you select to lead or champion the board diversity, equity and inclusion initiative will depend on the resource constraints of your board of directors and executive team, the size of your organization, and your available administrative budget. If your organization has the budget to bring in a third-party consultant or contractor to kick off the program, it is extremely beneficial. This consulting engagement could either be a lengthy engagement where they oversee the effort or short engagement to facilitate the early strategic sessions. Even if an external contractor or consultant is brought on to help lead and kick-off this effort, your board must assign an internal resource (board member, committee lead, etc.) to co-lead with the external resource. The board chair does not need to lead this effort but should be closely involved with and invested in this initiative.

The Role of History and the Importance of Race Equity

History matters. In many ways, the history of the United States is written on the face of boards of directors. Understanding the history and the current state of racism gives us the knowledge and power to improve our boards. It is problematic to address board diversity without considering the historical factors that have shaped our present reality. Structural racism is experienced and perpetuated throughout our housing, education, employment, media, health care, criminal justice, and other systems. An examination of structural racism helps explain why boards have had trouble diversifying and why it is important for our society to continue to push for equity and inclusiveness. By understanding the problem and applying a structural-racism lens, success is more likely. Learning the history, talking about it, and being self-aware about race and racism, power, and privilege can be both shaking and liberating.

Key racial disparity statistics reflecting where we are today can be found here provided by Board Boost Consulting. You must dig into the details to lay out the reasons behind these gaps. It is important to have these details to counter the argument that one’s accomplishments are a direct result of hard work and those who have not seen success did not work hard enough. Yes, hard work is a large part of attaining the American dream. But there have been countless public programs and policies benefiting whites that make the American dream much more attainable to whites than to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color).

Race Equity Training

Your board members and executive team should attend or host racial equity training; for example, the Racial Equity Institute workshops are excellent. It is most cost beneficial to partner with other local organizations and host a joint session. If your budget does not allow for this onsite training, the Grassroots Policy Project has created the Race, Power and Policy: Dismantling Structural Racism workbook. This workbook provides guides and activities to walk you through a two-day training session. After completing the race equity training, your board members will have momentum to start driving positive change.

Host Your Own Unconscious Bias Workshop

Another option is to host an unconscious bias workshop at your organization. Google has created an unconscious bias workshop, and the material is available for use at no cost. This training package includes slides that can be customized to your organization. It also includes a workshop facilitator guide for the designated person conducting the workshop.

Your Board Today

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Survey

Administer a diversity, equity and inclusion survey or self-assessment to the board members and the staff. This survey is an assessment of your organization’s current strengths, challenges, and opportunities in regard to diversity, equity and inclusion. This survey will shed light on how equity and inclusion contribute to the services and programs offered by your organization and how stakeholders throughout the organization are feeling about the topic. See this survey from the University of Michigan, questions can be adapted for your organization. Use your organization’s preferred survey tool to administer.

Board Composition Matrix

Cataloging the skills, expertise, community connections, and demographics of your existing board of directors is another foundational step. Creation of your matrix is necessary to ensure your organization is recruiting for a balanced distribution of board member characteristics, skills and experiences, not just diversity. Use this template created by Board Boost Consulting.

Charter, Bylaws, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy

Review your organization’s charter, bylaws, and policies, then update them according to need. Use the diversity, equity and inclusion survey results and subsequent discussion to incorporate what diversity, inclusion, and equity mean for your organization. Use this template from Bloomerang as a starting point.

Designing Your Ideal Board

Before designing your future board, I encourage you to listen to this 40 minute podcast from Joan Garry: The Top 20 Attributes of an Outstanding Board. She outlines many important attributes of an ideal board. As you look at your board composition and your organization’s goals, ask these questions:

· Does your board have gaps of expertise in any of the main areas — financial, legal, managerial, fundraising, technology, marketing, or human resources?

· Does your board have too many board members with expertise in one area?

· Do you have board members with direct ties to the community that your organization supports?

· Do your board members have community connections with other organizations that could help further your organization’s mission?

· Do you have board members with careers (active or former) that align with your mission (e.g., if your organization is a youth after-school program, do you have an educator on your board?)?

Board Size and Term Limits

While most resources will say there is no magic number for board size, a board can be too small or too large. Increasing your board size may be the easiest and fastest way to diversify the board. Make this a thoughtful decision. The pros and cons must be weighed before increasing your board size. Creating term limits is another way to bring in new board members. Term limits will lead to more rotations and in turn new insights and more board vitality.

Setting Targets

Your organization may find it useful to set recruiting targets. Use the demographics for customers and/or clients to model your recruiting targets.

Future Members Board Composition Matrix

Complete the Future State section in the board composition matrix to document your board composition goals and targets. List your ideal future board members’ skills, experiences, responsibilities, community connections, language, and race/ethnicity using all of the data from the prior sections. Use this template created by Board Boost Consulting.

Recruiting Diverse Board Members

Your organization has identified the skills, experiences, connections, and demographics you want to recruit for your ideal board composition.

Locating Candidates

To find diverse and well-matched candidates, you must think beyond conventional recruiting tools such as LinkedIn and Indeed. Start building your diverse candidate pipeline by researching and connecting with the below organizations and/or groups:

· Affinity/employee resource groups and networks: Many companies have their own affinity groups and networks, which are an excellent resource. For example, McKinsey & Company has several, including the Black Consultants Network and the LGBTQ Consultants Network.

· National BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color)-focused coalitions or unions: There are many national organizations focused on supporting minorities.

· BIPOC chambers of commerce: These organizations are leading advocates for BIPOC-owned businesses and increasing economic opportunities for BIPOC communities. Larger cities may have local chapters of these chambers.

· BIPOC professional associations: These associations are dedicated to bridging the opportunity gap for BIPOC professionals in various business professions.

· BIPOC business and executive councils: Expanding opportunities available to small, BIPOC and women business owners.

· BIPOC fraternities and sororities: Established in the age of racial segregation, BIPOC fraternities and sororities were created across our nation on college campuses to build camaraderie and academic excellence.

· BIPOC recruiting engines and professional networks: These sites provide online job searching, posting, and networking for job seekers and employers. They are a source for a talented pool of highly diverse candidates for everything from nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies. Many host job fairs and career events to connect diverse candidates to employers.

An extensive list and links for each of the above categories can be found here created by Board Boost Consulting

Specifically, for nonprofits:

· Local community organizations: The community that your nonprofit supports will most likely contain grassroots or established community groups serving various purposes — for example, a neighborhood alliance to increase voter turnout in an area your nonprofit supports or a neighborhood coalition to slow down gentrification.

· Local nonprofits: Using your connections with other nonprofits, ask if existing board members are looking for another opportunity or if they have strong staff members with an interest to grow their résumés.

· Corporations and LLCs with local offices: Most corporations and many LLCs share executive or manager profiles and pictures on their websites. Many of these executive or manager blurbs share their role, background, and past experience. After finding an executive or manager who meets your needs, look him or her up via LinkedIn and connect.

· Networking with the community: Stay connected with the local community by attending any local events in the neighborhood your nonprofit supports. Check city commission / council meeting agendas; if there is a topic that may draw in your supported community, attend and make connections.

Tactics to Successfully Integrate the New Board Members

All new board members should go through an orientation process. Create such a process if your organization does not have one. Each new member should receive a welcome package with board member and staff contact lists, recent newsletters, recent board meeting minutes, committee overviews, and a schedule of meetings. Start with a one-on-one meeting between the board chair and/or CEO and the new member; this should include a site visit and tour, review of your bylaws and policies, responsibilities, fundraising role, staff introductions, strategic direction, and expectations. Assign each new member to an existing board member to help the nominee acclimate, educate the nominee on organization details (organization charts, annual reports, pertinent financials, strategic plans, etc.), and serve as the new member’s main point of contact.

Multicultural Team Dynamics, and Building Trust and Engagement

There is more work to do after recruitment and onboarding to ensure your new board members build a relationship and sense of trust with other board members. If you do not make the investment in this critical step, then your other efforts will most likely be voided. Team dynamics are directly tied to team performance. A Harvard Business Review study (surveying 182 randomly chosen boards of directors) found strong evidence of the following: (1) cultural intelligence (CQ), the ability to work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds, is critical for successful teams; and (2) the quality of board-level team dynamics is strongly linked to profitability/execution of goals.

Board engagement is key to a successful integration. Your new board members will bring a unique combination of skills, experience, and character; this must be leveraged for your organization to reap the benefits. During board meetings, ask questions and encourage the new board member to contribute to the conversation. Help your new board member gain the confidence needed to effectively contribute. Look for an upcoming blog post for more details on Board Multicultural Team Dynamics, and Building Trust and Engagement.

Measuring Your Progress

Monitoring and evaluation are keys to success. Here we should recall two adages: “not everything that counts can be measured” and “what gets measured gets done.” It’s important to monitor your progress yet recognize that many of the benefits will not be easy to quantify. Monitoring should be used from the board diversification program kickoff through your ongoing recruiting, onboarding, communication, and board meetings. Monitoring metrics such as recruiting data, demographic reports, and turnover showcases progress, reveals mistakes, and provides accountability. Board evaluation is most likely already part of your regular operations. Embed your board diversity evaluation into your organization’s regular board evaluations, use select questions from your Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Assessment.

Sustainability

Lastly, after investing time and money in your diversification effort, your organization must ensure the accompanying recruiting and inclusion practices become part of your ongoing business. Reassess your board composition targets each year to ensure they still align with your strategic goals and still represent the community being served. Recruit for the future, even if you do not have upcoming board openings. Continue forming new relationships in your community and through the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) organizations discussed in the section on locating candidates. Continue to stay proactive and keep a list of potential candidates for when a board position becomes available.

In conclusion, board diversification is certainly the right thing to do from a societal perspective, but it is also the right thing to do to help your organization thrive. This blog series provides information and tools to start and maintain your board diversification effort while maintaining a racial equity lens. My hope is that your organization will prioritize board diversity instead of shelving this guide and pushing the effort out to another time. If we do not make a concerted effort to prioritize board diversification, our progress will continue to stagnate.