Over the past year I have had a relatively new experience. I mean something other than trying to figure out how to survive one more year of a Trump presidency and how to survive a disease no one had ever heard of before. Oh, there was also figuring out how to stay in touch with people and get strategic planning done without being able to be in the same room with them. I mean, an experience other than all of the other new and bizarre things that have happened over the past year.
This past year I started serving as President of the Board of Directors for the Peace Learning Center. If you have never heard of that organization, check it out at www.plcmke.org. The organization has a goal of teaching people nonviolent conflict resolution, which is an absolutely critical mission in these violent times.
When I teach governance, I argue that there should be two people serving as leaders of the nonprofit organization, sharing that responsibility: the Executive Director and the Board President. I argue that this should be a partnership. Each person has distinct roles and responsibilities. They share the responsibility of leading the organization, but their roles are also very different.
That is what has hit me the most over these past few months. Yes, I feel a responsibility for the organization, in my role as Board President. But I also find it is a different feeling then when I served as Executive Director at Future Milwaukee or the Nonprofit Center. In some ways, and please do not laugh at this, it is like the difference between being a parent and a grandparent.
Serving as Executive Director is an all-consuming thing. It dominates your mind. It keeps you awake at night. You are constantly thinking of all the things that are in your care: the mission, the clients, the staff, even the building. You are watching the funds that go out and those that come in. You are always thinking about where the next dollar is going to come from. You dream about directions the organization can take, and how you can enhance the impact.
It’s like raising a child. It is a day-to-day, minute-to-minute responsibility that does not go away. You are always on, always responsible. As my daughter describes it, you have to have the basic, practical parenting skills and radar.
That’s where being a grandparent is different. If you have the ability to be engaged on a regular basis as a grandparent, you are helping to raise the child. You take the responsibility seriously and want the best for the kid. But…
You don’t have that day-to-day, minute-to-minute level of responsibility. And you don’t have to always apply those practical parenting skills and radar. You can indulge the child, maybe even spoil them a little.
Just as when our daughter calls, when the Exec of the Peace Learning Center needs some help or advice, I am glad to offer what I can: time, connections, ideas, or just an ear. And just like when I was an Exec myself, I think about the organization a lot.
But it is different. I tend to think more about strategy, about directions, about the image we have in the community. I think about where we are going to get the money to run our business, but that thought process suddenly does not have the immediacy that it did when I was an Exec. Just like I worry about my grandson’s growing up to be a good and caring human being, but it is not with the same sense of urgency and immediacy of his parents. Like I said, I get to spoil him a little.
So, my hats are off to people who serve in both of these critical roles. The President of the Board really has responsibility for the organization on a fiduciary level. The buck does stop there. But there is also the luxury of sitting back and dreaming a little. The Exec has the responsibility on a daily basis. I have often said that if you have never been the Executive Director of a small to mid-sized nonprofits (which most nonprofits are), then you just don’t get it.
Board Presidents – do what you can to serve as partner with your Exec. See what skills and expertise that person has and support them in exercising those skills. Help fill the gaps where you can. And dream a little. Bring that to the Exec and talk with them about those things. Listen to them not with judgement but with empathy.
Executive Directors – know that you are doing a ridiculously hard job, but if you work your President the right way you can have a real partner. Be honest and truthful about what is keeping you up at night. Not to whine and complain, but to let them know what is actually going on and how they can help.
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