How Nonprofit Boards Can Support their CEOs in the Time of Covid-19
Nonprofit Board members everywhere are waking up to the reality that their manageable board role has grown exponentially with the Coronavirus crises. The affect of Covid-19 on the economy has yet to fully sink in but one aspect that seems highly likely is that there will be less funding available for nonprofits for a period of time. Private and corporate donations will be stressed; annual meetings, galas and other revenue-enhancement events are postponed or canceled; revenue -creating programs are being disrupted, delayed, moved on line, canceled or postponed. The timeline for recovery is completely unknown. There’s only one thing we know for sure – nonprofit CEOs are treading in unprecedented waters.
How can you help your CEO during this time without making them and you more stressed than you already are? The most helpful Boards will engage thoughtfully during this time and will emerge with an intact, forward looking organization. Here are some tips to remind Board members that their behaviors and actions matter now more than ever.
1. Support your CEO while adjusting the normal mode of interacting.
Your CEO is going to perform better if you communicate your confidence in their leadership. At the same time, it is the Board’s fiduciary responsibility to ensure the organization’s successful navigation of a crisis. You will need more access to day to day information and decisions that are being made, but you don’t want to show panic, overreach or micromanage.
To quickly ensure productive collaboration during these uncertain times, set adjusted expectations up front. Frame the situation by communicating what the Board as a whole is going to need and expect. Communicate openly about behavioral changes the CEO is going to experience. For instance, you may need more board meetings, you may ask formerly hands-off operational questions, you may want to see more financial modeling or you may want to do a pep talk with the staff. Whatever it is your Board needs right now will be well accepted by your CEO if it’s addressed up front and clear expectations are set. If you miss on hitting the pause button and adjusting expectations, you’ll cause your CEO to scramble and waste valuable time trying to figure out how to meet individual board members various requests.
2. Support the plan and stay aligned.
More than ever, Boards need to be responsive and engaged. Your CEO is handling a highly complex situation. They are managing the short-term impact of the Covid-19 crises as well as the long-term impacts to the organization. The impacts are going to be operational and financial, and both need to be addressed in a crisis assessment and action plan. The sooner your CEO can draft a plan, get your thoughtful feedback and charge ahead, the more confident everyone be.
Surely, there will be constant iterating of the plan, but once it’s developed and agreed upon, the Board needs to help by staying aligned. The last thing a CEO needs to manage right now are different board factions or board politics. Boards can help by being extra vigilant of their behaviors, over communicative of their intentions, and generally committed to good governance practices. It’s a good time to shore up loose or unhealthy board behaviors that can cause friction and work for a CEO.
3. Financials. Don’t assume that your CEO has it covered.
Everyone’s mind can get overwhelmed during a crisis. Even the most financially savvy CEOs are going to need a sounding board during this difficult time. Making the mistake of thinking that your CEO doesn’t need support assessing, forecasting and managing the unprecedented financial terrain could have huge negative impact to the organization. Boards don’t want to take this over (again, no overreaching) but your role to review, question and offer input into the financial situation is critical to your organization’s successful recovery.
Finances are the one area Boards should not be hands off on during a crisis. Create or repurpose your finance committee into a Crisis Task Force specifically to focus on the financial impact of the Covid-19. Set weekly calendar meetings with your CEO for the next few weeks. It sounds like a lot but you don’t have to meet if there is nothing new to review. As a guide, by now, 4 weeks into the crises, your CEO should be well into execution of an action plan to 1) shore up key donors or revenue sources, 2) reforecast your year by providing three models – conservative, middle and opportunistic, including expense adjustments and 3) ideate on revenue and/or funding replacement programs.
4. Let your CEO go a little rogue.
In fact – encourage it. A crisis can create opportunity. It’s a great time to let your CEO wander a little outside the organization’s guard rails and discover how innovative they can be. Our natural instinct during tough times is to retract, assume the most conservative future modeling, and stay in our lanes. As Board members, you may want to be careful that you’re not so focused on the situation at hand that you miss the potential opportunities for program expansions, new funding sources or potential partnerships that may have seemed unlikely just a month ago. By giving your CEO the green light to run a couple flags up the proverbial flagpole you just might end up with some great outcomes.