Last week, I talked about welcome retreats for new board members and how critical (and easy) it is to get new members ready for their roles on the board.
This week, I’m talking about the all-board retreat. I recommend having an all-board retreat once a year, separate and subsequent to the new board retreat. The purpose of an all-board retreat is to break away from business as usual, to realign the board members with the mission of the organization, to celebrate recent successes, and to plan for future challenges.
What is is not is an extra long board meeting.
In fact, it shouldn’t follow the usual board meeting agenda at all. No approving last month’s minutes, no reports for the chair or the executive director, no new business items. No, the purpose of this meeting is totally different from a regular board meeting. The purpose of a regular board meeting is to run the organization, where as the purpose of the board retreat is to imagine what’s possible and to deal directly with big challenges.
A good board retreat does three things:
It connects the board members with the mission of the organization. Each member should leave inspired by the work of the organization and proud of their contributions to that organization. (Hint: the best fundraising/advertising will be done through your board members sharing their inspiration with their friends, families, and acquaintances).
It connects the board members with each other. Remember — there will be new members who don’t know what questions to ask or to whom to ask them, and there will existing relationships that need to be honored, but not given so much time that new members feel left out. It’s a balance. While people like to complain about ice breaker questions, when used properly, participants have the opportunity to share about themselves in a meaningful way that is related to the topic of the retreat or the purpose of the organization, and to learn the same about the other members. Some of the best organizational ideas have their roots in these opportunities for members to share deeply.
It fulfills a need. Every retreat needs a reason for happening. The reason could be training on new office software, or planning a giving campaign, or learning about implicit bias and inclusion issues, or even setting a strategic vision for the next 5 years — but it can’t be doing work that could (and probably be should) be done at a regular board meeting or by a staff person. If you have enough time during the retreat, I recommend including both an educational/training opportunity and a strategic thinking opportunity during all-board retreats.
And that’s it!
Do you need a facilitator? Technically no. But the meeting will be better if you have one. There are several difficulties with using a board member or staff person as the facilitator, and the biggest is that he or she can no longer participate in the discussion. It is very difficult to facilitate a conversation and participate in the same conversation, and most boards want the input of the chair or executive director during the retreat. If cost is a concern, perhaps you could swap director time and your executive director could facilitate their retreat and theirs could facilitate yours? Sometimes parent or partnership organizations will have additional resources.