AP Perspectives—The View From Via Del Mirlillo: Meeting of the Bored?

Meetings, meetings, meetings. As fundraisers, internal meetings are part of our lives. There are development staff meetings, general staff meetings, committee meetings, board meetings, and those unexpected meetings with senior management. Meetings can be exciting opportunities to motivate and inspire others, to build teamwork, to make plans, to check on progress, and to build your organization’s future. On the other hand, well, we’ve all been to meetings where things don’t quite go that way. 

A cultural organization where I served as a consultant had a board of about 40 members. At one meeting I was to report on the outcome of a major feasibility study which was to determine if they could raise about $3 million to $3.5 million for renovation and upgrading of their building. The signs were good and all I had to do was summarize the report and go over the plans for board action at another meeting. I sat next to the board chair, who proceeded through the agenda of reports and updates. As we reached my item on the agenda, the board chair said, “We’ll get to Gene’s report in a few minutes, but first I want the board to help decide something.” With that he reached under the table and pulled out a very large binder. As he opened it, he said, “Here are some carpet samples for the new offices. Let’s see if we can pick one.” As he opened each sample, board members would make comments such as, “I don’t like that blue,” “Those stripes don’t go together,” “That’s too green,” and so on. Time passed as each sample was shown and the comments flowed. My scheduled time on the agenda kept shrinking. Finally, the chair said, “Well, we have about 5 minutes left for Gene’s report about how we can raise $3 million.” A quick summary was all I could do.

When I worked at the Chicago Community Trust as a program officer and the fiscal manager, our executive director would individually meet with some executive committee (our board) members if, at the next scheduled full meeting, there was a proposal or proposals and staff recommendations that might be sensitive. This did not always head off problems when final decisions were made, but it did help smooth the way for most decisions. Not a bad technique!

Anyone who has read some of my previous blogs knows my feelings about the use and often overuse of PowerPoint. At one organization where I was a consultant, I was meeting with the chief development officer to go over his upcoming report to the full board. He said, “I’ve got about 10 minutes for my report, and I put together 45 PowerPoint slides.” I said, “Ray, what are the two or three major points you want to make to the board? Let’s see if we can just use 8 or 10 slides to make those points.” We came up with a few graphics (my usual preference) rather than pages of bullet points, and these worked very well to get across his report.

Excel spreadsheets are another technique frequently used in committee and board meetings to show progress and detailed fiscal information. Sometimes I feel there is too much detail in these without keeping the group focused on the key numbers. The person presenting the report is often saying, “Now in column 12 row 10 you’ll see fundraising income to date.” People look at their hard copies or try to focus on the screen with the appropriate box. I suggest yellow highlighting the key numbers that need to be discussed so these can be found quickly by the group. Focus on these and their importance — trends, positives and negatives, and what they really mean for the organization. 

Sometimes your role might include “jump starting” action by the group. You may need to challenge them to move forward, make a key decision, or do something positive that should be done but hasn’t happened yet. My favorite example is again from my consulting experience with a large international organization. A special committee of board members had been set up to develop plans for a major endowment-building campaign. As the fifth meeting got underway, the discussions continued but not much else was happening. I decided to try something, since no committee member had made a personal gift commitment. I said, “OK. I bet $1,000 personally that we can’t get 100% of this committee to make gifts to the endowment fund.” The chair grumbled a little and said, “Ok, I’ll do $100,000. Another member said “I’m in for $75,000.” And so it went until several hundred thousand dollars were committed by the members. Afterwards the staff member I worked with said, “What just happened?” I said, “They just needed a little push.” I fulfilled my gift soon after.

Another technique I learned many years ago as my fraternity secretary was the final item on our agenda at every meeting: “Remarks for the good of the order.” This gave every member a chance to make announcements, raise any otherwise undiscussed issues, express concerns or positives, or just make a comment. A further refinement is the “round robin” technique I’ve seen and used elsewhere. At the end of a meeting each member of the group is called on to make any comments or remarks, present a possible agenda item for the next meeting, or comment upon some otherwise uncovered area or concerns. I’ve also seen this used at the start of meetings where each member is asked if there are items or areas not covered in the agenda which can be considered for a future meeting. For larger boards, the chair might ask for a show of hands of any members who have additional future items or concerns and call on each one individually. This is a nice way to ensure all members have a say in what is important to each and can be helpful in building the feeling that “we’re all here working together for a common cause.”

Sometimes you may need to present a problem to a board or a committee. This can be difficult but needs to be done to get some consensus as to how to proceed. I believe the best approach is to present both the problem and some possible solutions; these can help stimulate discussion and selection of what is the best solution to use. Again, involving the group is key to getting consensus, rather than you having to try a solution on your own.

Earlier I mentioned the Chicago Community Trust and its executive committee. The committee was made up of several prominent CEOs and old-line Chicago leadership. Because this group was made up of leaders and very focused on making decisions, the many proposals presented by staff for action were discussed fully and handled quickly. Staff recommendations for approving grants or declining them were brief but were proceeded by summaries and analysis of the organization and the proposed funding need. The recommendation presented a brief rationale. The recommendations had already been reviewed and discussed in previous program staff meetings and represented the consensus of the staff, and each committee member received the full docket and materials well before the meeting. In the executive committee meetings, staff could be called on for more detailed explanations. What was amazing to me at first was how focused and effective these meetings were and how the committee could proceed through the many proposals quickly but with full discussion of each in our three-hour period.

So, what are some lessons here? For me these are:

• Involve all members of the group in the discussions and needed actions.
• Keep the group focused on the essentials in your reports and discussions.
• Help the group’s leader move through the agenda items but allow time for full discussions of each, as needed.
• Prevent the use of meetings just for reports and be sure possible action items for review and discussion are included. 
• Reports should highlight by using summaries of the most important parts of the information.
• Avoid the micro-management types but keep things simple and focused.

I’ll close with a quote from Steve Jobs:
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

And one more from Steve Jobs:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”