Bored with Boards

The recent moves by government to ensure that local not-for-profits, like churches, have adequate governance in place has been met with a reasonable level of dismissal by churches. I often hear sentiment along the lines of: ‘It’s just government compliance – we answer to a higher calling’. Have you stopped to think about what that calling is? A calling to diligent responsibility and accountability, openness and transparency, honesty and integrity – THE VERY THINGS THE GOVERNMENT IS CALLING FOR! 

Why do we resist? A lot of our resistance comes from a sense of being overwhelmed by the language people use and list of responsibilities if feels as though others want to be add to our already busy lives and agendas. The truth is that most not-for-profits and churches are already doing a reasonably good job with their leadership responsibilities. The best way to work out what you need and don’t need only requires a couple of steps.

Two simple things you can do:

Get some external help to review how you are going.
A simple benchmarking exercise can be as easy as a short online survey through to interviews with board members and someone sitting in on one of your meetings. It is not complicated, expensive or difficult.

Provide training for your board/elders/leaders about their responsibilities.
Governance is not that difficult but it does require having the right knowledge. You can even incorporate training into your regular meetings a couple of times a year. There are plenty of people/groups that can help with that including Deep Well Leadership, Vose Leadership, Baptist Ministry Centre, CMA and the list goes on.

Although December and January can be difficult times to get much of substance done in a church, they are a perfect time for board/leadership reviews. If you want some help with this feel free to call me (0429 333 700) or drop me an email (steve@deepwellleadrship.com.au) and we can chat about where you are up to.