The Boardroom Field Manual
Governance You Can Use at the Next Meeting
Each board-training lesson has a written companion: the governing rule, the questions to ask, what not to do, and what the minutes should show.
The Boardroom Field Manual
Watch the LessonsRead Alongside the Video Program
The companion articles, in lesson order. Pair each with its video, or read them straight through as a governance primer.
- 1Lesson 1What Does a Governing Board Actually Do?The three jobs every board exists to do: strategy, safety, and audit.
- 2Lesson 2Fiduciary Duties: Care and LoyaltyThe two duties every board director owes: care and loyalty. What each one actually asks of you in the boardroom.
- 3Lesson 3The Chain of Command in Organization GovernanceThe chain of command in a corporation: directors, officers, staff, and volunteers, and where founders and executives fit.
- 4Lesson 4Strategy Is the Board's Ten-Year QuestionStrategy is the first of the board's three jobs. Done right, it is a disciplined sequence: a realistic ten-year vision, a three-year plan built on it, and next year's budget, across about four meetings.
- 5Lesson 5Safety Is a Board Issue, Not Just OperationsSafety is the second of the board's three jobs, and a frequent source of litigation that names individual directors. The board oversees four areas: personnel, property, legal compliance, and finances, without micromanaging the staff who run them.
- 6Lesson 6Trust the Executive. Verify the System.The board's audit function is not a CPA audit. It is the board's own job to verify that management is doing what the board approved, because the board meets occasionally while staff run the organization every day.
- 7Lesson 7The Budget Is the Board's Permission SlipThe timeline and steps for reviewing a budget, and why the approved budget is the board's authorization for the year's spending.
- 8Lesson 8How to Run a Board MeetingStop using board meetings to just listen to reports. Learn how the most effective boards allocate a director's time, reading before the meeting, engaging the operators, then deciding on motions.
- 9Lesson 9Parliamentary Procedure for BoardsRobert's Rules as they actually apply to a board: which authority governs, why motions belong in writing, what a vote really requires, and what the minutes must contain to hold up.
- 10Lesson 10The Resolutions That Outlive the BoardShould a board have a policy manual? Yes, but not the sprawling binder consultants imagine. The board policy manual is a short record of the resolutions that outlast a director's term, so a board that has completely turned over still knows what it decided.
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