FREE RANGE MANAGEMENT
Dog training. Not a big skill of mine. Both my husband and I tend to be more “free range” parents, both of our kids and of our dogs. The kids, after some bumpy roads, turned out just fine, and the dogs were all pretty terrific. Granted, we generally adopted older dogs who someone else trained, for better or worse. And then the oldest dog would train the younger. That worked wonderfully until Tramp, who had been horribly abused for his first three years. He’s now been with us for 7 years, and is wonderful. But he won’t get in the car or use the doggie door.
After Minnie died, Geoff really wanted a puppy. I did not, but as any of you who live with engineers know, they have a stubborn streak as wide as, well I don’t know, but pretty wide. And so we got Willow. Who is a fantastic puppy in her way, but as stubborn as Geoff. And Tramp was teaching her not to go in the car and not to use the doggie door. So I decided we needed to hire a trainer.
Have you ever hired a dog trainer? They are mondo expensive. And in truth, they are training the humans, not the dogs.
Our trainer, Amy, laughs at us. Geoff thinks anything Willow does is quite wonderful and never says NO! I, on the other hand, do, but then I’m bad at the follow through. I spend my days feeling like a failure. And that is not a comfortable feeling for me.
I remind myself—regularly—that new skills take time to learn. And I should give myself some slack. I know I will be happier having a dog who is well behaved (if not quite as well behaved as Amy would like) rather than one who is almost feral. But the getting there is hard for me.
Several of my clients have noted that it is the same with their boards. Wonderful in their own way, but not quite trained well enough to do the things they need the board to do!
Like me, the Executive Directors are failing at that training.
It’s not enough to put their roles and responsibilities in a binder and call it the Board manual. Guaranteed that few will read what is in that manual, and fewer would be able to pass an easy test on the contents.
As with my dogs, training in continual. One “NO” does not seem to change behaviors in any noticeable way. Nor does asking Willow to “come” make her trot over to me with any regularity. She comes when she wants to; and ignores me when it’s not convenient for her.
Hence, the trainer. I’m not doing everything 100% that Amy asks me to. I try, sometimes. But I do a lot more than I would if left on my own. And in small increments, I can see change.
Your board, too, needs some regular training. And, alas, it can’t just be you. Hire a consultant, ask a fellow CEO or someone who is or has been a board president to talk to your board. Not once, but many times over the year.
Once you get a board trained, make sure that the trained board members train your new board members. Give each one a board buddy—someone who will educate and integrate the newer member into the board and the organization. And don’t stop training, though you might cycle in some of your trained members to lead some discussions.
And oh, one thing I have learned about dog training is the importance of positive reinforcement. Even after I yell NO for a behavior (or squirt some bitter apple spray in her mouth), I then tell her what a wonderful dog she is for not doing the behavior right now.
So do tell your board members when they are not doing what they should be doing, but don’t forget to always thank them for all they do.