06/24/2024

The Keys to Successful Board Orientation

New research suggests that good governance goes beyond fiscal duties, bylaw knowledge

Few association leaders need to be told about the importance of board orientation. But that doesn’t mean there’s clarity on what that orientation looks like. Videos or binders? Half-day or full-day? Hybrid, remote, or in-person? All board members or just new members?

The specific modalities of board orientation may matter less than remembering what board orientation is for: To build a coherent governance culture where board members can hit the ground running the moment their tenures begin. To that end, the consultancy Vista Cova recently published a handbook to association board orientation, Board Preparedness: Ready to Lead From Day 1 [PDF]. Based on interviews with leaders from 35 associations and with plenty of sample documents and decks, it’s a robust resource for organizations looking to stand up or refresh an effective orientation policy.

“What we’ve heard from organizations, whether their trade or individual membership, big, small, global, what have you, is that the process of getting board members ready for service and having them function as a team still has gaps,” said Vista Cova CEO Lowell Aplebaum, FASAE, CAE. “We hear from plenty of board members who express frustration at having spent six months on the board before they understood what they were supposed to do."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.