WHAT SHOULD NATIONAL UNION EXECUTIVE BOARDS BE DOING?
There are several kinds of executive boards in the corporate and non-profit worlds ranging from the merely ceremonial rubber stamp varieties to those that engage in the active oversight management of the organization through standing subcommittees, extensive data access, and substantive check and balance powers. While there are exceptions to this observation, all too often the ceremonial rubber stamp board exists in one of two kinds of organizations. First, they are often found where an organization is newly created or recreated after an in-house fight and the top executive needs considerable leeway to stabilize the organization to get it on a growth path. The other place they are often found is with organizations that have made very serious strategic errors and are headed for disaster largely because the chief executive or even a small group of the executive’s direct reports are stuck in group-think trap or otherwise unable to break from their traditional perspective despite new facts, developments, etc. If you doubt that, look at the demise of such corporations as Enron, Lehman Bros., Blackberry, Kodak, Polaroid, etc. In contrast, healthy organizations that have passed through their formative struggles to succeed often shift to more active executive boards so that the single-minded vision of the CEO and his/her closest staff do not unintentionally limit, or even harm, the organization. Federal sector unions need to use their boards just as actively and creatively as any organization if they want to avoid the disadvantages of an all-powerful CEO or small leadership clique running the place. Below are some ideas for what union executive boards should be doing. Continue reading