There are many reasons for conflict between the Executive Director and the board. In this post, I explore the most common reasons and then share my personal story of clashing with a board member.
1. Lack of information or clarity causes conflict.
A. Board members don’t understand the difference between governance and management.
Management issues are more familiar to most people than governance issues. So, the concrete tasks of hiring or editing the newsletter are easier to understand than setting policy and oversight.
If people don’t know where to look, they focus on the first thing they see. That’s why a board member with no financial training will obsess about $500 for postage in a $2 million budget.
If board members don’t understand what they should be doing, they often grab onto something familiar. They try to exercise authority in that area, whether or not it’s helpful.
Often board members don’t receive adequate orientation to the organization. And they don’t take the time to learn about the organization on their own. As a result, they lack the information they need to provide adequate oversight.
B. In some cases, Executive Directors are even unclear about the board’s role.
There are often murky areas where responsibility overlaps and the line between management and governance is unclear.
2. Board and executive director roles shift.
A. There is a transition from a volunteer-led organization to professional management.
Board members who have been used to making day-to-day decisions as volunteers can have a hard time moving to an oversight role. They have an investment in the new executive director continuing to do things the way they were done by the old board. This can stifle a new executive director.
B. There is a transition from one executive director to the next.
Sometimes there is a transition period in which board members have to assume some of the day-to-day management of the organization. It can be difficult for those same board members to step back into their governance roles when the transition is over.
3. Board practices do not support their oversight work.
A. There is no mechanism for evaluating the executive director.
If there is no structured way for the board to give feedback to the executive director, concerns about performance may be expressed in counterproductive and even harmful ways.
B. There is no way to effectively communicate priorities from the board to the executive director.
If there are no agreed-upon communications protocols, executive directors might feel like they report to 26 separate bosses rather than one board of directors. In these situations, every individual board member’s request can become a mandate. Board members then feel resentful and unappreciated when the executive director does not respond in accordance with their individual preferences.
4. Incompatible assumptions and styles cause conflict.
A. The Executive Director wants independence.
An executive director has to manage staff, achieve program goals, raise money, balance the budget, and represent the organization to the outside world. Those are just the formal roles! It’s an enormous responsibility.
As organizational leaders, executives need freedom and flexibility to make decisions based on their professional experience and judgment. They can be resentful of a board that wants to supervise them.
To ensure your independence, you might want to try to control the board by “stacking” the membership with allies, or by controlling the flow of information. It’s easy to wish that the board would just leave you alone and go raise money, But then you’ll be frustrated when the board is unresponsive or inactive.
B. Board members behave in ways that make collaboration difficult.
Some board members take advantage of their oversight role and use it as an excuse to “be the boss.” This can translate into a range of bullying behaviors such as demanding inappropriate or unnecessary information or presenting frequent criticism of the executive director.
Other board members may require extensive hand-holding, requesting frequent phone or in-person meetings with the executive director.
C. Personality clashes can cause conflict.
Underneath all these factors, sometimes it comes down to the fact that the executive director and a board member just cannot get along. Their styles or values are too different. Often one or the other will feel slighted or insulted and will lash out as a result.
This happened to me in my first executive director role. Although my title was executive director, one board member, who was 85, insisted on calling me the executive secretary. It drove me crazy.
Looking back on this 30 years later, I see more clearly what happened. I represented everything he despised about the new world: an independent woman with a career. He represented everything I despised about the old world: misogyny and patriarchy. We weren’t arguing over the direction of the strategic plan or the vision statement in meetings. We were arguing about the direction the world should take.
If this happened to me now, I think I would laugh at this man rather than get so upset. It’s true as you get older you don’t care what people think of you. I also think I would have met individually with the other female board members to gain their support.
Summary: Conflict between the Executive Director and the Board is common, and there are many reasons. No matter how educated your board is about their responsibilities, if you stay in this profession long enough, you’ll probably have a personality clash with a board member. If you’re experiencing conflict with your board, go to my website to book a strategy session “90 Minutes to Building a Better Board.”
