Presentation procedure

[BradL]

Good evening:

Some context: I serve as an independent Chairperson of the Board for a large non-profit organization. I often receive requests for presentations to the Board -- sometimes for funding requests, sometimes for programming ideas, and sometimes to advertise upcoming events. This time, I received a request for a presentation from the employee Union as there have been recent disagreements between the Union representatives and management of the organization. Long story short, the Union perceives the concerns as a governance issue, whereas management views this as an operations issue. In the name of transparency, I made the decision to allow the representative from the Union to present to the Board -- although there are some who disagree with my decision. 

I have set the time-limit of the presentation to be 15 minutes with a limited amount of time for questions from the Board.

My question:

1. I have concerns that the representative will use the time to present on the current negative aspects of the relationship rather than the potential for positive outcomes. This will certainly lead to tension, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are on best communicating that this presentation is intended to present on the potential for positive outcomes between the organization and the employee union. 
2. As I am sure you can imagine, this is a controversial and passionate topic of discussion. Generally speaking, presentations to the Board are collegial, and do not pertain to topics which are internal to the organization. With this said, I am hoping to hear your best practices on moderating such an important discussion. 
3. Ensuring collegiality, remaining impartial, and being transparent are three of my primary objectives as Chairperson. This begins with providing an environment that allows all to communicate their ideas. Civility within the room is my goal for the upcoming meeting, but how do I best accomplish this with such a directed topic.
4. My questions may be too general for this forum, but any assistance to weather this storm would be very much appreciated. Of course, if you disagree with my decision to allow this presentation, I would love to understand exactly why!

Further information: Meetings for the organization are often public, so any member is able to attend. Due to the controversial nature of this topic, I expect there to be a large presence. 

I will certainly provide further information as requested. 

 

 

 

[Kim Goldsworthy]

If I were chair, I would not waste valuable BOARD time with an item of (a.) unknown length (as your given limit is an arbitrary limit and not a realistic limit for the material), and (b.) unknown applicability ("operations" vs. "governance", to use your own words).

I would immediately refer such an item of business to a COMMITTEE.

  • A committee has more time than a board does.

  • A committee can whittle down the range of relevant issues from multifold to a key few.

From the committee report, which will have digested the issue into bite-size chunks, the board may then attack the problem with the primary research and primary legwork all done.

[Dan Honemann]

6 hours ago, BradL said:

Good evening:

Some context: I serve as an independent Chairperson of the Board for a large non-profit organization. I often receive requests for presentations to the Board -- sometimes for funding requests, sometimes for programming ideas, and sometimes to advertise upcoming events. This time, I received a request for a presentation from the employee Union as there have been recent disagreements between the Union representatives and management of the organization. Long story short, the Union perceives the concerns as a governance issue, whereas management views this as an operations issue. In the name of transparency, I made the decision to allow the representative from the Union to present to the Board -- although there are some who disagree with my decision. 

I have set the time-limit of the presentation to be 15 minutes with a limited amount of time for questions from the Board.

 

4 hours ago, Kim Goldsworthy said:

If I were chair, I would not waste valuable BOARD time with an item of (a.) unknown length (as your given limit is an arbitrary limit and not a realistic limit for the material), and (b.) unknown applicability ("operations" vs. "governance", to use your own words).

I would immediately refer such an item of business to a COMMITTEE.

In case anyone might be wondering, it may be helpful to note that nothing in RONR confers upon the chairman of a board the authority to make the kinds of decisions which BradL appears to be making (presumably, the governing documents of this organization do so), or the authority to do what Mr. Goldsworthy says he would do if he were the chair. 

[Russ1409]

1 hour ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

 

In case anyone might be wondering, it may be helpful to note that nothing in RONR confers upon the chairman of a board the authority to make the kinds of decisions which BradL appears to be making (presumably, the governing documents of this organization do so), or the authority to do what Mr. Goldsworthy says he would do if he were the chair. 

I WAS wondering about the first, and and I'm assuming, Mr. Honemann, that you think the situation should be put before the 

assembly to make the decision to form a committee and discuss the issues with the representative? Is that how you would handle it, lacking guidance by the organization's governing documents?

Thank goodness Indont have to deal with such a mess. 

[BradL]

Thank you for your clarification, Daniel. 

The organization policies provide the Chairperson with an opportunity to use their best judgement when developing the agenda of the Board -- with the understanding that all 'decisions' made are subject to appeal from the Board. 

I look forward to hearing what your thoughts are on this situation. 

[Dan Honemann]

1 hour ago, Russ1409 said:

I WAS wondering about the first, and and I'm assuming, Mr. Honemann, that you think the situation should be put before the 

assembly to make the decision to form a committee and discuss the issues with the representative? Is that how you would handle it, lacking guidance by the organization's governing documents?

In view of the fact that I know absolutely nothing about your organization, and next to nothing concerning the situation you have described, I am not prepared to offer any advice at all concerning whether or not anything should be referred to a committee. I simply noted that nothing in RONR gives a chairman of a board the authority to do so on his own.

 

[Russ1409]

6 hours ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

In view of the fact that I know absolutely nothing about your organization, and next to nothing concerning the situation you have described, I am not prepared to offer any advice at all concerning whether or not anything should be referred to a committee. I simply noted that nothing in RONR gives a chairman of a board the authority to do so on his own.

 

Well, it's not my organization, I was rudely jumping in the thread. But I could see how something like this could happen in a bigger organization, so I was wondering, that's all.