Do you have the right skill set on your board?
Looking at what skills you have on your board is a good way to assess your strengths as an organisation and help with succession planning. It is also a good exercise to identify gaps to help with board recruitment and see where you might need some external help.
It's a good idea to have a conversation with the other board members about what skills your board might need. This might be:
- Strategic thinking
- Financial management skills
- Knowledge of the local sector/environment
- Commitment to the mission and values
- Interpersonal skills - Commitment to teamwork
- Knowledge of policies, procedures or a legal background
- Funding experience and relationships with potential funders
- Some soft skills, such as a sense of humour or someone who is really empathetic
Parry Field Lawyers has a template to help give you a good sense of what skills you have, where you overlap, and where your gaps are. You can personalise it to your organisation and board members self-evaluate using a scale of 0 to 3 with:
0= no experience
1 = some experience
2 = experience
3 = expert
You can download the template here.
If you are looking to recruit some new board members there are some organisations that can help. Check them out here.
