Because credit union boards are members too, they know howthey're treated as members and what they expect from theirfinancial institution. But at the same time, they need to be moresavvy than the average member about what's happening at the creditunion.

Mimi Hull believes CEOs have a responsibility to train theirboards so those boards, and likely the CEOs themselves, can be moreeffective. Hull is president/CEO of Hull& Associates, which provides consulting, speaking, trainingand facilitation services to a wide range of businesses fromFortunate 500 companies to nonprofits.

“The question a CEO must ask is, Does he or she really want anadvisory board or an admiring board?” Hull said. “By that I mean,do they want the board to simply bless everything that goes on? TheCEO and the board chair must determine what they want from theboard. That can affect where they recruit for new boardcandidates.” 

In her newsletter, Hull comments, “We have found that nonprofitboard members are often passionate about the organization, but ittakes more than passion to govern well. Board members mustunderstand their role, their relationship to staff and leadershiptechniques.” 

“Individuals new to the nonprofit arena need to be taught thenuances of working with volunteer organizations. Veteran boardmembers must continually train lest they get stuck in 'but we'vealways done it that way,'” said Hull.

“Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes toexplaining to others what your organization is all about.Therefore, create training complete with documents that include anelevator speech and supporting statements that clearly articulateyour organization's mission, activity, history and traditions.”

Hull agreed that there is a balance of power between the boardand the CEO. According to Hull, the CEO should let board membersknow why they were chosen, what they're expected to do, what theyshould know and what they're expected to give to theorganization.

Hull said that it can sometimes be difficult to identifytraining needs, because the board can't know what it doesn't know.The board chair and the CEO should work together to identify whatthe board needs to become more effective.

The relationship between the board and staff may be one subjectof training, she said. Hull works with many different boards andhas found that they typically fall into two categories – either tooinvolved or too hands-off in the staff's daily routines. Bothsituations can present problems to the staff and CEO, she said.

“If a board member starts telling the marketing director what todo, that's not appropriate,” Hull said. “They may make arecommendation, but they should not be supervising staff.”

“The board needs to know their role and responsibilities, andthe limitations to those. What can they do, and what aren't theyallowed to do? Another way I like to look at this is the board isthe what and the staff is the how,” Hull indicated.

“One thing the board may be looking at is, What are thepolicies? What is the strategic plan? An appropriate conversationwith the CEO is, Where do you see the organization in three or fiveyears? Is budget and accounting information accurate? Once thebudget is set, is the budget being followed?”

Hull applauds the regulators' idea to establish financial literacy requirements for credit union board members.NCUA's Rule 701.4, mandating new directors learn to read andunderstand their credit union's balance sheet and income statementwithin six months of joining the board, has prompted new attentionto board training. This has led to the creation of a wide range ofoptions from seminars to webinars.

According to Hull, the CEO should be working with the boardchair to establish a mutually agreeable time for scheduledtraining. The CEO may also identify needs, such as team-building,that call for training.

Hull also believes people will support what they help create. Sothe trainer should contact, if not every board member, at least afew board members to learn what they see as the strengths of theboard and opportunities for improvement.

Hull added that an outside person can ask important questions,such as, Are there factions on the board? What are the issues? Whyare these issues occurring? 

Hull recalled one time when she surveyed in a board in which 80%members told her, “Please don't say this out loud, but we are not afunctional board.” 

“As the facilitator of board training, I told them 80% had saidthey were not a functional board. We put a light on the elephant inthe room,” she added.

“Each person thought they were the only one telling me that. TheCEO was painfully aware of how bad the board was, but the boardpresident was unaware and negative,” Hull said.