What individuals say, the words they use, reflects their culture and values. This is my reflection today as the many reviews of what Mr. Trump did or did not say are discussed in the media. At this point all I know is that what he did say is worthy of discussion about culture, values and tone and equally important, policy.
Consider you are in a board meeting and your executive director is discussing their quarterly statistics and begins to be disparaging about a particular group of individuals who have benefited from your nonprofit's service. And let's say this is not an infrequent occasion.
What do you as a board member or even the whole board do? Do you a member, stop the discussion and ask for an explanation (uh, what are you talking about?). Do you sit and just let the comments go by without stopping the discussion to focus on this characterizing? Do you instead in executive session(which you have at the end of every business meeting) discuss the matter and determine that the chair should have a conversation with the executive because you all conclude this set of attitudes and beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the nonprofit? Or might you log the incidents and save the collection for the annual performance review?
When a board hires its executive it is likely that members have an understanding of expectations that, tested or not during the hiring process, the individual you have hired has values similar to those of the board. During your strategic planning process you discussed a Theory of Change and core values and have affirmed that these values are "owned" by each of the board members and your expectation is that these values should inform behavior and culture across the organization. But, if they do not, are you prepared for action - at minimum, to "elder" and at most, to fire?
The events at the end of the week can serve as a wake-up call for nonprofit boards: know and affirm your values and the culture you desire internally and for those your services benefit. And know also what steps you will take, via policy, should there be failure in this regards.