Great BoardBoard Builder
Board Cadence

Foundations, 15 min

Before you start building, take 15 minutes to walk through what a great board actually is. It will make every tool in this app more useful.

Start Foundations

Tool F

Conversation Guide

This is mutual diligence. You are testing whether they can govern, and they are testing whether this is worth their name. A prospect who asks you nothing is telling you something.

Who is this conversation with?

Pick someone from your roster and every note below is saved on their record, next to their scores and their seat.

Unnamed person

Status: seated. Engagement 1/2, governance 1/2, alignment 1/2.

Open their full record in the roster

Testing for engagement

  • Tell me about a commitment you made in the last two years that turned out to be harder than expected. What did you do?
  • What else are you giving time to right now, and honestly, where would this sit in that order?
  • When you have served on a board or committee before, what did you actually do between meetings?

Testing for governance understanding

  • In your own words, where is the line between governing this organization and managing it?
  • Describe a time you disagreed with an executive you also liked. How did that go?
  • What would you want to see in a board packet to feel prepared to vote?

Testing for capacity: time, energy, capital

  • Roughly how many hours a month feels sustainable for you, in a busy season and not just a good one?
  • Board members here make a personally meaningful annual gift and help secure resources. How does that land with you?
  • Which is easier for you, giving money, opening doors, or doing work? There is no wrong answer, and I would rather know now.

Testing for independence

  • If the board needed to evaluate me honestly, could you participate in that conversation without discomfort changing your answer?
  • What is your relationship to the other people already involved here?
  • How do you handle a conflict of interest when the conflict is social rather than financial?

Testing for community standing and reach

  • Who in this issue area would take your call this week?
  • What is your own experience with the community or issue we serve?
  • Where do you think the ecosystem around this issue is getting it wrong?

Questions they should be asking you

Offer these out loud if the prospect does not raise them. A board member who joins without asking these will not challenge you later either.

  • What is the business model, and how does this get paid for in three years?
  • What does the board actually decide here, and what does staff decide?
  • What is the hardest thing about this organization right now?
  • What happened with the last board member who left, and why?
  • How will you use me, specifically, and what would make this a waste of my time?
  • What is your relationship with the current board like when you disagree?

Draft for your judgment. Use these as prompts, not a script. The best recruiting conversations sound like two experienced people thinking out loud about an organization they both care about.