Please update your browser
We have detected that you are using an outdated browser that will prevent you from using
certain features. An update is required to improve your browsing experience.
-
Module 2: Diversity on your Board
It is important for the board to have diversity in gender and location. Currently the CEO and the 2 board members are men in one location. They lack diversity of opinion and perspective in their deliberations and access to donors.
7 Replies
79 Replies
-
Diversity is very important on any board. It gives the opportunity of better deliberations and perspective in the organisation. It is however very difficult to get in the right people for the different rolls on the board. I have a problem where people are too busy to be hands on
3 Replies
-
1 Reply
Diversity can be an asset. Diversity can also make consensus challenging. I believe everyone has something to offer. Historically, in the US, women and people of color have been excluded even from voting in the general election. Nice to see women and people of color holding leadership roles in government and corporate America for a change. Sustainable, Equitable Business Creation Workshop (SEBCW) would intentionally include women and people of color in leadership roles and keep the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in mind. As far as regional diversity goes, the board is starting locally and seeking members in the New York City area.
-
Gender diversity on the board (50%:50%), for instance, has long been a legal requirement in Scandinavia and other countries in the EU.
In general, the rich diversity of perspectives and points of view can only lead to better decission making.
2 Replies
-
Thanks for your observation.
Billions of hard working mothers and grandmothers have been successfully managing households affairs all over the world for centuries. Continuing to exclude women from decission making positions is boty unwise and unsustainable.
-
being all men does not imply all these. There is diversity issue but those men could have networks than can aid fundrasising.
-
That problem is common in a country that does not have volunteer culture.
-
A large board slows down things. If you try to be all diverse, you may suffer slow decision making and have many bench warmers.
-
How can we recruit a great board in a country like Nigeria where there is no well established volunteering culture? In short people want to be paid for everything even women going for ante natal care have to be given incentives to do so.
-
1 Reply
Diversity is a very important element to take care of when creating your board. It is necesary to have a balance not only in terms of number of participants if they are men or women, but also it should be intergenerational, come form differnt ethnics, origins, sexual preferences, among others. It would give the Board not only a bigger picture of reality, but also would answer to some donors requirements nowadays.
-
To have the diverse board members is important for the organization to advance. Not just the members sit on the board but also they should try to improve the organization.
-
it is important to consider diversity, the most important aspect is gender mainstreaming so that their will be diverse opinion before making decision, however, even though diversity is important, board should not be too large to avoid delay in decision making and ambiguity in the board.
-
1 Reply
In the religious congregations I serve as an Intern Minister (in Oregon in the US), Board members are drawn from the congregation. Because the congregation is small, the top priority is often finding ANYONE willing to serve, and thus the needs of creating a Board with diversity of skills and demographics ends up being seen as icing on the cake. I wonder if the outcome of Board recruitment would be different if we started with the skills we needed on the board, rather than this attitude of scarcity of people willing to serve?
