NBOA President and CEO
I still recall meeting with an independent school board chair and discussing ongoing board development for the school’s board of trustees. Her response was, “What problem are we trying to solve?” This helped me understand that too often trustees make too many assumptions about independent school governance.
The first assumption is that there is a shared understanding of what nonprofit governance is among trustees. The second is that our boards, by design, turnover annually so a continuous commitment to trustee education — not just at orientation— is critical. Finally, “The problem we are trying to solve” is preparing the board so that when it’s faced with a challenge, financial or otherwise, trustees respond based on a strong foundation of governance. Their response will be aligned with the mission, role of the board and role of the staff, and it will serve the school well into the future. That’s just one of the lessons that I have learned along the way as NBOA president and CEO, as a student of nonprofit organizations, and as a member of the multiple boards on which I have served.
Good financial governance is the foundation of any successful organization, including independent schools. Without it, everything from operations to curriculum is on unstable ground. The challenge for independent school leaders lies in how to equip their board members with the knowledge and skills they need to balance mission and vision while shouldering the responsibility of wise resource management.
The Value of Experience
Independent school leaders prize their autonomy in supporting their particular school’s mission, teaching methods and culture. That spirit of independence doesn’t always translate into good governance, though. John Gulla, executive director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation and this year’s NBOA Sarah Daignault Outstanding Support of Independent Schools Award recipient, understands the conflict trustees can face. Consider the warning he offers in his foreword to NBOA’s book “Effective Financial Governance for Independent School Trustees”: “As an approach to managing resources, independence can lead to idiosyncratic, even iconoclastic practices, which can be risky. People who admire creative academic programming don’t always appreciate creative accounting — not auditors, not potential benefactors, and not the IRS.”
Independent school trustees bring distinct skills and insights gained from a lifetime of experiences, when they enter the boardroom, inform decisions, shape strategic direction and ensure the overall health of their school. I know that has been true for me and for my colleagues here at NBOA. Early in my career, I served as a staff member for the National Association of Home Builders, which at the time had about 1,500 members on its board! Since then, I’ve worked with many boards, including our own outstanding NBOA Board of Directors. Our interactions with dedicated administrators, trustees and industry experts have taught us invaluable lessons in good governance. It’s a subject I’ve written many times about in this magazine and for my blog, CEO Notebook.
I recently tapped my NBOA colleagues, Chief Learning Officer Jennifer Osland, Executive Vice President James Palmieri and our current Board Chair Duncan Booth, to get their take on good governance. We discussed what we have learned about governance in our various roles with the NBOA Board and how we have applied those insights to elevate governance at other organizations we have served as directors or trustees. We came away with several key points that demonstrate good governance in action.
Straight Talk
Booth puts respect, trust and communication at the top of his list of skills for trustees, a takeaway from his American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) training. Trustees who practice all three – and add candor when needed – create an environment where challenging yet productive discussions can occur, enabling boards to make thoughtful, mission-aligned decisions.
For board chairs like Booth, it’s especially important to be a better listener than a talker. Observation helps too. His advice: “Watch the room, as those who may be hesitant to speak have something to offer.”
High Altitude
Good governance elevates a school, especially when it comes to the essential board task of strategic planning. Conversely, a lack of governance or the wrong kind of governance can drag a school down, even when well-meaning trustees think they are acting in the school’s best interests.
Boards that misunderstand their role — whether by micromanaging staff, engaging in reactive rather than strategic planning or neglecting fiduciary responsibilities — risk undermining the very mission they are entrusted to uphold. Conversely, trustees who understand their role as keepers of the school’s mission and vision, are positioned to take a strategic, long-term view of finances, programs and initiatives.
Setting trustees up for success means identifying exactly what success looks like for your directors, said Booth. One strategy is to keep “head and heart in, fingers out,” he shared. That means trustees stay out of your organization’s day-to-day operations while supporting the mission and viewing the administration’s work through the lens of that mission. When an idea, initiative or inquiry arises, ask if it’s mission related before dedicating the time and resources to it.
Always Prepared
Many organizations put too much energy into the trustee selection process and not enough into orientation, training and development. While both are critical to a high-performing board, the latter activities foster meaningful conversations about what governance means for the board as a whole and the trustee as an individual.
As a member of NBOA’s leadership team, Osland shared that her work supporting NBOA’s Board has given her a first-hand view of what good governance looks like. “This dual perspective [supporting a board on staff and also serving on a board] has underscored the importance of preparedness, no matter your role; pursuing ongoing professional development; upholding confidentiality; disclosing conflicts of interest; and respecting the distinct roles of staff and board members.”
For Osland, balancing these responsibilities requires clear boundaries, fiduciary awareness and a steadfast focus on the mission. She has taken that knowledge to other organizations where she serves as a board member. “It has sharpened my ability to assess the feasibility of initiatives, anticipate and identify solutions in the face of challenges, and approach issues proactively and strategically for those organizations,” she says.
Generative Thinking
Palmieri served as staff liaison to the NBOA Board’s Strategic Planning Workforce in 2021-22. That group created NBOA’s current strategic framework, which includes the mission, vision, goals, strategies, outcomes and metrics for our association. The framework not only informs the association’s future objectives – supported by a long-range financial model – but also our year-to-year planning, budgeting and implementation. Every staff member is aware of these priorities and incorporates them into annual goals.
Getting to that finished product meant long hours and deep dives into strategic thinking and action, including member surveys, constituent interviews and facilitated discussions. Palmieri sees that type of generative work as essential to good governance, and like Osland, invaluable in his other board work.
“I had the opportunity to deploy what I learned from NBOA’s strategic planning process during my term as board chair at a peer educational organization – specifically during a period of critical refocusing,” he related. That board followed a similar reflective process to reset the organization’s mission and vision in partnership with its CEO, the leadership team and staff, and with input from key stakeholders.
Support for Your Board
School and board leaders need not feel alone in striving for not just good but excellent governance. I’ve already mentioned NBOA’s financial governance book, and NBOA’s foundational book on the profession, “The Business of Independent Schools: A Leader’s Guide,” includes a chapter on how business officers can partner effectively with their boards. NAIS and BoardSource also provide valuable information on governance, including NAIS’ latest research on the state of independent school governance.
All of us involved in the mission of independent school education are lifelong learners. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t! Good governance is not a one-time achievement, but an ongoing practice. Achieving excellence and ensuring the sustainability of a school goes far beyond a static set of skills or knowledge. It requires a continuous commitment to growth, reflection and adaptation.
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