Event Date: 02.11.2021
Time: 10-11:30am
Part of Mass Cultural Council’s Recover, Rebuild, Renew Series
It may seem strange to focus on adding people to our boards when there is so much unknown with our organizations, but boards should be working year-round on building a pool of potential candidates. The profile of the candidate may have changed. Your ideal prospects will be big thinkers to help you get where your plan is going. You may need different subject matter expertise. What is clear is that we still have to get people excited about the prospect of serving, whilst being transparent about the numbers. And, it is almost easier to keep the board engaged at this moment – there is much to do, and very little business-as-usual.
In this session, we will focus on: Recruitment basics, and new techniques for recruitment in the age of COVID-19. The Right Board at the Right Time – who is the ideal board member to govern and lead with courage at this time? Plus, examples of successful recruitment of stellar board members during the period of the pandemic; Board diversity as a core value; The New orientation process – providing the new board members with what they’ll need for satisfying service – including the hard new facts, and the information a board should expect, and needs, to make good decisions at this time – e.g. specific highlights in the standard board manual, and key information on the effects of COVID-19; Successfully integrating new voices/perspectives into an existing group of board members. Embracing the Devil’s Advocate and using conflict as a productive tool; The board’s increased attention to risk assessment and management; strong internal controls; updated policies, applicable laws/regulations, endowment, and up-to-date insurance; Retention basics, and new techniques for retention in the age of COVID-19; Changing up your board meeting agenda; Elegantly managing board members who aren’t contributing or engaging in this new environment, and those who are feeling like “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Outcomes: At the end of this session, participants will gain the tools and ideas for fearless recruitment, including communicating the current value of your organization as a community asset, tools and ideas for updated needs assessment and prospect identification, understand case studies in recruitment success in 2021, methods that assure retention of the finest board members through to the conclusion of their terms, gain examples to help organizations practice equity, diversity and inclusion from the inside-out, identification of areas which are always critical to good governance, and sharply in focus now, and gain the ability to help reassure the board that they have the information they need to make wise decisions.
Firm: Claire West Consulting, Tucson, AZ
Content Expert: Claire West and Mollie Quinlan-Hayes
Claire West has operated as an independent consultant for many years, and founded Claire West Consulting in 2014, where she partners with top consultants in the field to provide a range of services. West believes in the strengths of her clients, and works beside them to accomplish their mission. Claire West Consulting specializes in non-profit/CBO consulting in the areas of Strategic Planning; Board Development; Organizational Assessment; Fund Development; Project Management; Group Facilitation; Advocacy. Clients include arts and culture, human services, health, education, faith, environment, historic preservation, equity. Certified in IAP2 Planning For Effective Public Participation; Lifecycles Capacity Consultant trained in Lifecycle Models by the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute; Certified in Institute of Cultural Affairs “TOP” facilitation methodologies; Consultant, Arizona Together For Impact. Claire serves on five boards, and several advisory committees. Professional positions held have included senior positions with Ballet Arizona, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Rockland Center for the Arts.
Mollie Quinlan-Hayes served as the Deputy Director and Accessibility Coordinator for South Arts, one of the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, from 2006 through 2020. Prior to that, she worked with the Arizona Commission on the Arts over 14 years, including as community development/touring coordinator, local arts agency director, public information officer, as Deputy Director for seven years, and as Interim Executive Director. At both agencies, Mollie led strategic planning, execution and evaluation; served on the senior management team addressing fiscal, human resources and programmatic decisions; hired and supervised program staff; and was liaison with Board/Commission members. At South Arts, she was the staff support for the Governance, Strategic Planning, and Programs Committees, and was lead staff for Board Task Forces addressing the challenges/opportunities of readiness/disaster planning following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (resulting in the creation of ArtsReady); the redesign of the annual Performing Arts Exchange regional booking/professional development conference; and the redesign of the Folklorists in the South Retreat (FITS). She oversaw all programs, including PD@PAE/Professional Development at the Performing Arts Exchange. PD@PAE was one of the conference’s three primary components (along with the Marketplace, and networking), and consisted of year-long planning of a schedule of professional learning experiences at three levels: Fundamentals, Skills, and Issues and Ideas. She worked with the nine member state arts agencies to ensure delivery of policies, initiatives and programs which provided relevant value to them and to the artists, arts organizations and people in the region.
Auto-generated captions will be provided. If you have additional questions or to request additional accommodations to ensure your participation, please contact Michael Ibrahim.
