{"id":590671,"date":"2022-02-10T18:15:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T23:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/?p=590671"},"modified":"2022-07-05T16:12:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T20:12:37","slug":"monthly-board-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/monthly-board-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Monthly Board Meeting is a Waste of Time. Here’s Why."},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was in second grade, S&H Green Stamps were all the rage. Who else remembers those? You could trade them in for rewards at your local grocery stores in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Well, the nuns over at St. Joseph\u2019s Grammar School in North Plainfield, NJ were obsessed with the opportunity these stamps represented so they enlisted the entire school community to collect and donate them. Each class was given a certain allotment of stamps that they could use to buy something for their classrooms.<\/p>\n

We spent hours fantasizing about all the things we could get and then we saw it \u2014 the coolest cuckoo clock ever! (It wasn’t this one<\/a>.) Of course, our vote was unanimous\u2026<\/p>\n

Stop and think for a second \u2014 we were 2nd graders. A big class (with over 30 kids!) of chatty, inattentive, difficult to corral, 2nd graders. Now imagine this classroom with a cuckoo clock went wild every 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest \u2014 Sister Killian did not have much academic rigor when it came to her teaching style. She was (unlike many of the nuns at St. Joseph) lovely and sweet and kind\u2026but I don\u2019t really remember learning anything of substance that year. But I do remember that we started learning even less the day the cuckoo clock arrived.<\/p>\n

From then on, every day around 9:45am the clock would cuckoo. So about 5-7 minutes before then, all work stopped. Why? We had to get ready \u2014 we certainly didn\u2019t want to miss the show\u2026<\/p>\n

As soon as the clock struck 9:45, it began. The cuckoo clock went wild and captured our attention. So much so, that it took another 3 minutes for the classroom to recover from what I called \u201ccuckoo clock afterglow.\u201d The room would buzz with excitement until finally, Sister Killian would say, \u201cNow get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

But by then it would be 9:52am and guess what? The 10:00am cuckoo clock show was just 8 minutes away\u2026<\/p>\n

This was a highlight of my grammar school career and according to my parents, a lost year of school.<\/p>\n

But, I know you\u2019re probably thinking, \u201cWhat the heck does this random childhood stories have to do with a monthly board meeting?\u201d<\/p>\n

Allow me to explain\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DO YOUR BOARD MEETINGS HAVE THE CUCKOO CLOCK PROBLEM?<\/h2>\n

From the day the cuckoo clock arrived to our 2nd grade classroom, we learned things in 2-3 minute segments (between the cuckoo prep and the afterglow).<\/p>\n

Can you imagine how hard it was for Sister Killian to get us to focus for just a few moments before all eyes turned to the wall? Or how hard it was for us to retain these tiny bursts of education?<\/p>\n

This is what I see when I see nonprofit organizations having monthly board meetings. They may work for some organizations but I am here to tell you that for most organizations they cause many of the same problems that the cuckoo clock brought into our 2nd grade classroom.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m often asked, \u201chow often should our nonprofit board meet?\u201d<\/p>\n

To be honest, \u200b\u200bit\u2019s a mixed bag in the sector — we have quarterly meetings, some boards meet six times a year, and many have a monthly board meeting.<\/p>\n

But if you want my advice, as a general rule of thumb, larger organizations benefit from longer quarterly meetings and smaller organizations benefit from meetings every other month.<\/p>\n

Keep reading to learn my thoughts on why.<\/p>\n

THE MONTHLY BOARD MEETING TRAJECTORY<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s say your board meeting is on February 1. Your focus usually starts turning away from your day-to-day work and towards the cuckoo clock on the wall \u2014 your next board meeting.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how this usually goes.<\/p>\n