Talking with Volunteer Extraordinaire Ellie Paladine

Ellie Paladine is an outstanding volunteer leader who has for several years generously given of her time and talent to nonprofit organizations in West Central Florida. We recently worked closely together in updating the role, functions, and structure of the Board of Directors of the Good Samaritan Health Clinic in New Port Richey, Florida. Then Vice President of the Clinic Board, Ellie headed the governance task force that spearheaded the Clinic’s governance improvements, and she now chairs the Board’s new Planning and Development Committee and serves on the Board Operations Committee. Ellie is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Community Foundation of Pasco County and has served on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida and the Florida Medical Association Alliance, among other nonprofits. Ellie and I spent a delightful couple of hours over lunch recently, discussing the board-CEO partnership. Here are some highlights of our discussion.

Doug: Ellie, in your experience over the years, what are the most critical factors in building a really solid board-CEO partnership that is close, productive, and enduring?

Ellie: The key word is “teamwork,” Doug. The most effective working relationships that I’ve observed over the years have involved the board and CEO working together as a real governing team. Now, experience has taught me that the CEO has got to take the lead in building the relationship with the board, which means that he or she has to be really “board-savvy.” The board-savvy CEO not only understands the governing function inside-out, he or she also understands how to work with the kind of high-achieving, forceful and sometimes difficult people who serve on nonprofit boards. The savviest CEOs I’ve worked with over the years – who have built really solid partnerships with their boards – have gone out of their way to make sure that their board members find their governing work enjoyable and even ego-satisfying. For example, these CEOs engineer speaking engagements for board members, rather than just accepting invitations themselves, and they look for opportunities to recognize board members publicly for their service. The CEOs who build the firmest partnerships with their boards also, in my experience, take the lead in developing their board’s governing capacity, rather than just sitting back and waiting for the board to develop itself. For example, they actively promote governance education and training for their board members, and they encourage the board to update its role, structure, and processes. A case in point: the CEO of the Good Samaritan Health Clinic and I worked hand-in-hand to make sure that our governance task force carried out its mission fully, coming up with concrete recommended improvements in Clinic governance, and she’s playing a leading role in getting the improvements implemented.

Doug: What kind of things have you seen erode nonprofit board-CEO partnerships over the years, Ellie?

Ellie: I said earlier that the CEO needs to be a strong member of a nonprofit’s governing team, working in close partnership with the board, but I have seen CEOs who play such an assertive leadership role that they preempt their board and damage the relationship. For example, a few years ago I worked with a CEO who thought that his job was to get new programs launched with virtually no board input, and then just report progress to the board. Well, you can imagine how little ownership board members felt, being turned into a passive audience, and how rapidly this CEO’s relationship with the board deteriorated. In my experience, really board-savvy CEOs make sure their board members are involved early-on in shaping important decisions, not just reviewing them after the CEO has acted. Turning the coin over, I think board members need to take accountability for their own behavior if their relationship with the CEO is to remain healthy. This means they resist delving into operational details and becoming micromanagers, and individual board members don’t try to direct the CEO or other staff. Experience has taught me how damaging micromanagement can be to the partnership.

Doug: Finally, Ellie, would you comment on the board chair-CEO partnership?

Ellie: I’ve seen some great board chair-CEO teams over the years, and they have a lot in common. First and foremost, they recognize a fundamental division of labor: that the board chair is above all else responsible for leading board deliberations, while the CEO is responsible for directing all internal operations. Second, they understand that external relations is a shared leadership function, and they consciously divvy up specific external responsibilities. For example, if an invitation comes in from the chamber of commerce to address their monthly luncheon, the board chair and CEO discuss who should take the podium on behalf of their agency, and they might decide to be co-panelists on a TV community affairs program. Third, they observe a hard and fast rule: Only the board collectively directs the CEO, never the board chair. And finally, the most solid relationships involve a CEO who really wants the board chair to succeed in leading the board and goes out of his or her way to support that leadership, for example, meeting with the chair before the governance committee meeting to go over the agenda point-by-point. I could go on, but these are the biggies.