End Board Meeting Chaos: Put Your Board in the Right FRAME
Discover the FRAME method. It’s designed to improve how much your nonprofit board governs.
WHY FRAME? The FRAME method is a powerful tool for nonprofit CEOs navigating complex and sticky challenges. With it, CEOs can guide their boards toward productive thinking and decision-making by providing a structured approach to board discussions so the CEO can gain clarity about the challenges at hand.
FRAME is a 5-step process that the board chair or CEO can use to introduce governance items effectively in board meetings.
The Big Nonprofit Board Governance Ideas
- The FRAME method takes 1-2 minutes to present before an agenda item.
- It helps direct the board and encourages more effective governance.
- The method is beneficial when board members have different levels of preparation or familiarity with the topic.
The FRAME method consists of:
F – Focus: Explain why you’re discussing the topic.
R – Refining the Goal: Specify what you want to achieve from the conversation.
A – Action Plan: Outline the time allocation and tasks to be completed.
M – Motivate: Share why the topic is important and its potential impact.
E – Engage with the Question: Start the discussion with a pre-planned question.
The main benefits of using the FRAME method include:
- Increased governance
- Better board engagement
- Improved efficiency
- Flexibility (you can use FRAME in other situations.)
Here’s a link to the article, How to Move from an Operational to a Governance Board in 5 “Easy” Steps.
Here’s your FRAME Nonprofit Board Governance Challenge: Choose one important agenda item at your next board meeting and apply FRAME. Here’s how:
- Before the meeting, spend 10-15 minutes crafting your FRAME for this item.
- Present your FRAME at the meeting (remember, it should take only 1-2 minutes).
- After the meeting, reflect:
- How did the board respond compared to previous discussions on similar topics?
- Did you notice any improvements in focus or decision-making?
- What would you do differently next time?
Let me know how it goes!
Need more help with your board? Karen is available for a mini-consult and more. Click here to email or here to set a time to chat.
