Video Transcript: Board Refinement

Hi everybody. Welcome back. This is Dr Hunt again, and we're in phase three,  how to develop a ministry board. I hope that you got a lot out of the previous  sessions. We talked about, we gave an introduction, and we talked about phase  one, the creation. Phase two, the launch, and now we're in to phase three.  Phase three. I know you're excited about it. I know you've been building your  ministry. I know that some of you who are already in the process, you have a  ministry that's already going on. You have a board, and this might be a way for  you to look and see how can you make some improvements, what steps that  you missed? So I'm excited for you, and let's just get started with phase three of  board development. Phase three of board development, board development  phase three. Board development phase three is called refinement. Refinement. I like that term refinement. That means that you're working out the kinks. That  means that you're straightening out some things. You've addressed some  issues. And this is really a critical period, because it is the period after the  startup, and now you're operating, and you have a chance to see how things are working. You have a chance to see if your board is serving this purpose, if your  programs are meeting the needs of people, and it's a time to just stop and  reflect, or, as it says in the Bible, Be still and know that sometimes it's just time  to take a Selah phase or pause and see how things are going. So in this phase,  what you do is you review the board structure and make sure that you know that your alignment, that your number of people, how you're doing things, that it  facilitates, it helps, it expedites the success of the organization and what you're  trying to achieve. So it's a time you know you may see that okay, now we have  too many people may maybe we need to just revamp what we're doing. And it's  also a time when you can clarify what the roles are and how you're going to  communicate between the board and the staff, particularly the board chair and  the CEO. So it's a time to clarify the roles and how we're going to move forward.  You've seen some things since the startup, since the creation and the launch,  and now it's time to fix some things, or to fine tune a few things. And what you  need to also do during this time, if you have a ministry board that is gone forth  and you're looking at this thing, you need to look at development, not just for the staff, but also particularly for the board, because the board needs to understand  what it means to have governance. And so that requires training, just as the staff requires training. You want to make sure they have some leadership  development, that they have an orientation plan as they come on board, you  might have a small board. And if you have a board that it consists of, you know,  the chairman, the Secretary and the treasurer, and then three or four trustees,  then you want to make sure, as each one of them comes on board, there's an  orientation where they learn what it is that you're trying to do. They learn what  the policies are. They learn what the what the handbook is for, how you  operate? And so that's a time for orientation. So again, you have leadership  development along with orientation. So that's a winning combination. That's a 

winning formula. And then you also revisit the mission of the purpose and  organizational values to assure that you're aligned with your goal. So this is a  time to look back and say, you know, are we are we really doing what we said  we're going to do? Or are we experiencing mission creep? Mission creep is  when you start moving into other areas that don't have anything to do with what  your original vision was for this particular ministry. So it's a time to examine, to  see if you're doing things the right way, if you're staying in your area, staying in  the focus of what you originally envisioned for your organization, and then  conversely, if it's not, you're not in the right place, that maybe you need to  revamp your vision and your mission and your goals. And lastly, you need to  look at those your strategic plan. And when you do your strategic plan, you  talking about looking at the strengths, the strengths and weaknesses and all  those things once you've been out. There for a while, you can look and see  there might be some new doors opening. There might be some more  opportunities. You went one way, and you your your vision was very focused, but in the midst of serving the community, in the midst of doing, accomplishing that,  that that ministry, you learned that there were some other opportunities that  maybe you need to widen your focus, maybe you need to hire some more folks,  maybe you need to switch up or broaden your vision for this particular ministry.  And so this is a time when some new opportunities might exist, that also might  be a time where you might see that maybe you need to do something differently. So that's board development phase three, refinement. And if you're looking at  this from a board perspective, these are the things you need to have, and not  just in your rear view mirror, but you need to look ahead and see where you're  going. So pursuing new opportunities, I really like that. So it's a time to just do  an examination, see where you are. That's refine it, fix some things, fine tune  some things. So that's more development. Phase three, refinement. I hope you  got something out of this. Thank you for joining me. Make sure that you tune in  for the next phase. Phase four. God bless you, until we meet again.