GOVERNING BOARDS AND CEOs
I remember preparing for and attending the College Board of Regents meetings first as an Academic Dean (five years) and then as President (five years). There were some good years, when the respect between regent members and me was high, and then there were the years when it was not so good.
Since then, I have sat on the other side of the fence, as a board member, many times. The majority of the problems I encountered as college president and as a board member could be contributed to a lack of trust and respect between the governing board and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
In order for an organization to maximize its potential, there has to be absolute trust and respect between the CEO and members of the governing board. Unfortunately, due to human nature, this is very hard to achieve, and in Indian Country other factors make it virtually impossible.
It all comes down to this . . . who makes the decisions, the governing board or the CEO? The more trust and respect there is between a governing board and its CEO, the more the governing board is inclined to let the CEO make the decisions. The less trust and respect between the governing board and CEO, the more the governing board is inclined to make the decisions.
Then, there is the personality of the CEO. He/she may be the kind of administrator who is okay with the governing board making the majority of the decisions. He/she will offer very few recommendations, and instead, will continuously ask the board, "what do you want to do?" In my view, this CEO's education, knowledge, and experience are being wasted.
Then there are administrators, like me. As academic dean and then college president, I very seldom asked the governing board what they wanted to do. Instead, I would prepare my case, recommend a course of action, and ask for their approval or disapproval on what I wanted to do. Simply put, when people would ask me what I did to earn my president's salary, I would promptly say, "I earn my money by making tough decisions."
What do you think?
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The function of a governing board is to make decisions.
A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the "right-hand" of the governing board. It is the CEO's responsibility to carry out the wishes of the board. Because the CEO is out among the people, the CEO has first hand knowledge of what needs to be done. This puts him/her in a position to make recommendations to the board.
In other words, the CEO knows best what to do and is responsible for reporting to the board the conditions or situations that need addressing. The board then acts on the CEO's recommendations, but the board has final say in all things; the board makes the decisions.
A board can not do its job if it can not rely on the CEO's recommendations. If a board does not trust its CEO, it should find a new CEO it can trust.
That's my opinion, for what it's worth.