A Working Partnership: 12 Principles for Executive Directors and Board Chairs
1. Know Yourself and Your Counterpart(ner).
With thanks to Socrates: Know yourself. And get to know your counterpart. Take the time to be intentional about how you work together as a leadership team. What are your respective strengths and weaknesses? What traits, learned preferences, and experiences have shaped each of you? How do you each contribute best to a group?
2. Mission First: It s about the Work, Not the Title.
Understand your formal authority and that of your counterpart, but focus more on the work of the organization than on positional power. Keeping shared purposes at the forefront promotes a healthy sense of responsibility for the whole organization.
3. Be Willing to Ask for Help.
It s easy for leaders to become overwhelmed and isolated. Give yourself permission to ask for help. In doing so you serve as a model for healthy interdependence rather than over-reliance on those at the top.
4. Make Meetings Matter.
Design meetings to emphasize interaction and strategic priorities rather than one-way reporting. Good meetings build confidence and deepen our understanding of the issues, leading to well-informed decisions and committed action.
5. Welcome Differences.
Recognize that creative energy arises when different perspectives come into play. Welcome differences as opportunities to test and evolve your own ideas, values, and ways of working.
6. Take a Systems Perspective.
It s easy to lay blame when things go wrong. It s more useful to consider: "Is there anything in our systems or organizational structure that is contributing to this problem?"
7. Be Willing to Experiment.
Nonprofit organizations are action laboratories for democracy. Consider new ideas and try new ways of operating. Question orthodoxy. Tinker. Sow some seeds.
8. Support Leadership Development.
Look for opportunities to support your own leadership development and that of your counterpart. We never fully "arrive" as leaders. There is always more we can do to become self-aware and to deepen our skills.
9. Tend Toward Trust.
Trust that your counterpart has good intentions. If you feel yourself rushing to judgment, check the validity of your assumptions by asking questions and listening well. Be willing to share your perspectives and the thinking behind your opinions.
10. Create Feedback Loops.
Be open to feedback. Seek feedback on your own performance, and be willing to give constructive feedback to your counterpart. Create routines and systems to make feedback a norm for your organization.
11. Be the Change You Seek to Create.
Creating change in the organization and the community starts with our individual attitudes, behaviors, and actions. As Gandhi said: Be the change you wish to see in the world.
12. Have Some Fun!
Nonprofit staff and board leaders are often workaholics. The work we do is important, but can only be sustained if we take time to relax and celebrate!
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