God bless those who sacrifice their time and talents to serve on the various boards that help chart the course for our schools, cities, counties, state, church and civic organizations, and private businesses.
By bringing their skills and opinions to the table, coupled with a passion to serve the greater good, they are integral in the progress and success of a community.
There are basically three types of board members – those with the courage and wherewithal to be decision makers despite facing possible criticism, the me-toos who simply go with the majority flow on issues large and small and are there to project a certain public persona, and the persnickety nit-pickers who annoy the others and delay board progress with trivial matters just to be heard.
The last two board types can drive functional board members loopy, alienate the corps, and chip away at the board’s effectiveness and chemistry. Too much of this drives really good board members out of Dodge and the board suffers the consequence of lackluster leadership.
To say nothing of the ominous black cloud such board members have hanging over their heads that they drag into the room with them and bottle-necking the process and progress.
Our boards do not need rogues or crusaders. They need team players with no personal agendas and a dedication to task benefiting the mission.