A better way to evaluate the Executive Director.

When the operating year is over and it is time to conduct the executive director’s evaluation, many non-profit boards seemingly forget how to operate as a governing group. They pull out dusty old evaluation templates from 25 years ago, jump into elementary school grading systems, cobble together a handful of comments from a few board members, and destroy the relationship with the executive director.

Stop using dated frameworks.

It can be a very demeaning experience for a non-profit executive director to receive an evaluation with rankings and averages on topics like problem solving, organizational skills, and teamwork. Ask me how I know. Worse yet, a lazy board will often conduct an old fashioned 360-degree evaluation, bullying the ED’s staff team into providing the evaluation data.

EDs put a lot of work into supporting the board though the development of a well-informed strategic plan, thoughtfully translating strategic goals into operational programs, and thoroughly collecting data for reporting. After all that hard work, an ED that experiences an evaluation using a dated framework will very likely start to look for work at a different organization, with a more mature board.

Rather than risk losing a valued employee, a non-profit board can embrace their own policies to develop an executive director evaluation system that is not only empowering, but one that doesn’t require a lot of extra work outside of regular board meetings.

Work within the governing policies.

The board has a set of rules that guides its work. The governing policies, which not only describe how the board will operate, but also describes how the board will work with, and evaluate, the executive director. Within the governing policies, the board will have a collection of executive limitations, or ELs. The ELs are the rules the board has determined they want the executive director to follow in the management of the organization.

These policies contain everything the board needs to monitor and evaluate an executive director’s performance.

Decide what reports the board wants to receive.

It is the board’s job to include in the executive limitations, the kinds of information it wants to receive at board meetings. Typically, this will include two kinds of reports. A report explaining how the programs are meeting the strategic goals, and another report explaining how the executive director is staying within the rules (the ELs). It is the executive director’s job to provide any of the reports the board wants to receive.

Ask questions at every meeting.

At each board meeting, the board will review the executive director’s reports and ask very specific monitoring questions. Questions might include, did the executive director provide the required information, did the organization meet the strategic goals, and did the executive director work within the limitations set out by the board. The board will have a collective discussion, right at the board meeting, to review their answers to the monitoring questions.

Sometimes the boss needs to change.

Though the collective discussion functions as the executive director’s evaluation it is rarely noted on the agenda as ‘ED Evaluation’, rather it is called monitoring. That’s because IF there is a component of the executive director’s work that doesn’t meet board expectations, it might NOT be a failure on the ED’s part. It might mean the board needs to look at its own policies and make changes. There is no better place for that to happen, then right at a board meeting.

Gossip or empower?

Implementing an executive director monitoring system at every board meeting might feel strange for boards that haven’t used this process before. There will likely be push-back from board member who don’t like change or have more gossipy personalities.

The benefits of evaluating the executive director at every board meeting means the evaluation criteria is aligned with the role the ED plays, to manage the organization and to meet the strategic goals. It removes all the trivial, dated, old-school evaluation process. It also gives the ED time to make changes for the next board meeting, rather than waiting until the end of the year.

Evaluating the executive director at every board meeting means all the work happens right at the board table. This ensures that the board speaks with one voice, a key principle for a governing group. It also eliminates the need for extra work, away from the board table, that might start to drift back to an elementary school grading system.

Your turn.

Your turn. How does your non-profit evaluated its executive director? Does it happen at each meeting, or only at the end of the year? What do you like, or dislike, about your system? I want to know! Please use the form on the side of the page to let me know, ..or send me an email, ..or message me on socials.

-Christie

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Hi, I'm Christie. I help executive directors develop the systems and processes needed to run a non-profit.

I learned early in my career, there is no non-profit school. Browsing the internet for resources from big-city experts doesn’t provide practical solutions to balance the budget, write a work plan, or conduct an employee evaluation. Leadership development tips don’t really resonate when you are also taking out the recycling and cleaning the washroom.

I created ChristieSaas.com so non-profit leaders never need to wonder how to do the job – no matter how big or small that job is.

I have been the executive director of small-team, small-budget, non-profits for 20+ years. My experience isn’t theory. It is the real, operational, and practical solutions I use every day.

I love my work, and I want to help you love yours too.

© Christie Saas 2024 All Rights Reserved

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