A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, VP Risk Management

Kevin Smith from TEAM Resources had a message in his monthly blog that many of you don’t want to hear and some of you need to hear. His post, titled Board Members: Stop Trying to “Help” Your CEO, discusses how board members can, at times, get too involved and actually hinder your CEO’s ability to succeed — or fail — at their job.

That sounds harsh, right? Well, as Kevin explains, your role as a board member may differ greatly from your paid position (or former career) in terms of everyday involvement. As a board member, you should be driving the strategic direction and decisions of the organization and empowering the CEO to fulfill their job in the regular projects and tasks of running the credit union.

While letting someone else take the reins doesn’t fit everyone’s personality, you hire and compensate your CEO to do just that. Having clear roles for all parties can help foster a successful environment for the whole organization. That is not to say you throw your CEO in the deep end to see if they can swim. A CEO may come to you and request training or support in a particular area. They should expect honest feedback on how they are performing. But, just don’t get into a mindset of “well, I would have done it differently” and expect they will feel you are supporting them.

I encourage you to take the time to read this blog. It opened my eyes to some issues further down the organization chart that can occur when roles are not defined and followed. You may find some nuggets to take away as well!