Most editions include sections from one of two longer articles I'm writing.  Why Organizations Thrive  and Why Organizations Go Off Course detail lessons I learned while growing the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV), buttressed by my observations of dozens of other groups both in Oregon and across the country.

Collectively, I believe these lessons are a very useful set of principles that any Executive Director can use to improve their organization's capacity to fulfill its mission.

Why Organizations Go off Course Lesson Seven is: Prioritize Effective Board Meetings.

Some might feel this fits in the "of course" category.  Yet, I've encountered too many examples of ineffective board meetings not to include it in the lesson list for Why Organizations Go Off Course.

Two of my past lessons covered a couple ways in which board meetings can be ineffective.  They can continually rehash past decisions (Lesson 6).  They can stifle conflict instead of exposing and respectfully resolving it (Lesson 4).

Here are three other ways I've seen board meetings go awry over the last two decades, along with the consequences for the organization.