BONUS LESSON – Index to 40 Blogs

OUR FINAL BLOG! We hope you’ve found value for your board in More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom Blog, this 40-week journey through the book, More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Over the last 40 Wednesdays, we've featured 40 guest bloggers and their favorite snippet from the week's topic. 

Here are some final thoughts from Dan and John—and a click-on menu of all 40 bloggers and 40 lessons—plus a bonus lesson by ECFA President Michael Martin on a free board self-assessment. And during this COVID-19 era, the role of the board becomes even more critical. We pray that your board will have God-honoring wisdom as you spiritually discern next steps.

CAUTIONS AND CATALYSTS! Index to the 40 Blogs
To address the elephant in the room, you must have the right board members in the room.

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: As Busby and Pearson wrote in their introduction, “To address the elephant in the room, you must have the right board members in the room. Board service is not for the weak of heart. So in these lessons, you’ll find numerous alerts, cautions, and warnings: how to guard your CEO’s soul, insights on succession planning, the Governance Pendulum Principle, the dangers of botched executive sessions, and why résumé-builders make lousy board members.

“We pray that this book [and these blogs] will be a catalyst for your board to have numerous healthy conversations about effectiveness, excellence, and elephants. And we also salute you and thank you for accepting the sacred trust of ministry board service. God is honored.”

CLICK-ON INDEX TO ALL 40 LESSONS
ECFA is grateful to our 40 guest bloggers who shared their insights and color commentaries on all 40 lessons over the last 40 Wednesdays. Click on a relevant lesson for your board—and share the link with your board members today!

BONUS RESOURCE AND FREE ONLINE SURVEY

How Healthy Is Your Board? NonprofitBoardScore™ (Michael Martin)

PART 1: THE POWERFUL IMPACT OF HIGHLY ENGAGED BOARDS

1) Big Blessings Abound When Governance Faithfulness Flourishes (Wayne Pedersen)

2) Engage Board Members in Generative Thinking (Bruce Johnson)

3) The Productivity Payoff of Intentional Hospitality (Rick Alvis)

4) Guarding Your CEO’s Soul (Wes Willmer)

PART 2: BOARDROOM TOOLS AND TEMPLATES

5) Dashboards Are Not a Secret Sauce for Sound Governance (Reid Lehman)

6) Enhance Harmony by Clarifying Your Participant-Hat Expectations (Andy Bales) 

7) Eliminate Fuzziness Between Board and Staff Roles (Bill Gruenwald)

8) Design Your Succession Plan—NOW! (Bill Frisby)

PART 3: NOMINEES FOR THE BOARD MEMBER HALL OF FAME

9) Just Do One Thing a Month (Devlin Donaldson)

10) A Unanimous Choice for the Board Member Hall of Fame (Woody McLendon)

11) Thrive With Four Kingdom Values (Hal Habecker)

12) Keeping the Boardroom Afloat (Willie Nolte)

PART 4: EPIPHANIES IN THE BOARDROOM

13) Caution! Understand the Governance Pendulum Principle (Paul Anderson)

14) Plant a Seed in the Boardroom (Seng Tan)

15) Be Intentional About Your First 30 Minutes (David Schmidt)

16) Looking for Consensus but Finding Division (Max Wilkins)

PART 5: BOARDROOM BLOOPERS

17) Botched Executive Sessions Are Not Pretty (Philip Boom) 

18) Warning! Résumé-Builders Make Lousy Board Members (Gordon Flinn)

19) Beware the Phone-Book-Size Report (Dave Semmelbeck)

PART 6: BOARDROOM TIME-WASTERS, TROUBLEMAKERS, AND TRUTH-TELLERS

20) Don’t Be Late—or Annoying! (Dan Steiner)

21) Alert! The ER Factor Causes Value Extraction (Dan Bolin)

22) Whopper Mistakes Can Unravel Your Ministry (Kecia Klob)

23) The Bully in the Boardroom (Nate Parks) 

PART 7: BOARDROOM BEST PRACTICES

24) Should Most Standing Committees Stand Down? (Rebekah Basinger)

25) Compensating the CEO—It’s About More Than Money (Tom Okarma)

26) Big Rocks, Pebbles, and Sand (David Ingerson)

27) Address Absentee Board Member Syndrome (Tom Beaumont)

 

PART 8: BOARDROOM WORST PRACTICES

28) Defending Risks Everywhere Is Not a Strategic Plan (Mike Clabaugh)

29) The Two Enemies of Sound Board Decisions (Steve Moore) 

30) Are You Competing Based on Overhead—Really? (David Beroth) 

31) Where Two or Three Are Gathered on Social Media… (John Ashmen) 

PART 9: HOLY GROUND AND OTHER LOCATIONS

32) There Are Two Things You Should Never Joke About—#1: Prayer (Cameron Doolittle)

33) There Are Two Things You Should Never Joke About—#2: Fundraising (Jos Snoep)

34) Five Troublesome Misconceptions of Board Members (Bart Hadder)

35) Leverage the 80/20 Rule in the Boardroom (Hans Finzel) 

PART 10: BUILDING A 24/7 BOARD CULTURE

36) Watch Out for Boards Asleep at the Wheel (Steve Altick)

37) How Many Board Members Are Present in Your Boardroom? (Brian Heerwagen)

38) Seven Times When a Board Member Should Bid Adieu (Connie Salios)

39) Identify Your Key Assumptions (Ed McDowell)

40) You Made Me Better Than I Was (Steve Macchia)

 

MORE BLOG SERIES:
Inspire your board members to be lifelong learners in governance! Read and share these other blog series with your board:
• 40 Blogs: Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: 40 Insights for Better Board Meetings
• 40 Blogs: Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance
• 22 Blogs: ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board
• And more blogs: ECFA Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog 

ORDER THE BOOK TODAY!

BULK ORDERS: Click here. For more resources and to download the book's Table of Contents, visit the book's webpage.