Peer accountability on a volunteer board
When follow-up flows only through the chair, the chair becomes a bottleneck and a cop. How healthy boards make expecting things of each other normal.
The blog
Practical writing for people who serve on boards. No jargon, no fluff — the stuff we wish someone had handed us at our first meeting.
Ruinous empathy: how kind boards quietly fail each other
The treasurer nobody understands, the committee everyone keeps thanking — how sparing a board member's feelings quietly costs them, and the mission, the chance to fix it.
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The progress principle: why small wins keep boards moving
Nearly 12,000 workday diaries pointed to one motivator above all: progress in meaningful work. Why small wins — made visible — are a volunteer board's real fuel.
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What does Radical Candor look like at a board table?
Kim Scott's framework was built for managers. Boards are harder — peers, volunteers, no boss. What caring personally while challenging directly sounds like in a boardroom.
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What independent school trustees get wrong about their role
Most trustees at an independent school are also current parents, and the two roles pull opposite ways. The common mistakes, and the reframe that resolves them.
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How should a board handle a public mistake?
Facts before the statement, plain words about what happened and what's next, one voice, staff first — the sequence for the week the organization got it wrong.
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Church boards, elder boards, and vestries: what's actually different?
Congregational governance varies enormously by tradition — but the fiduciary duties don't. What genuinely differs from a secular nonprofit board, and what doesn't.
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What is psychological safety, and does your board have it?
The condition underneath every good board discussion: what psychological safety is, what it isn't, the tells that your board lacks it, and how chairs build it.
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How does a board evaluate itself without it getting awkward?
Board self-assessment gets awkward when it's rare. Make it annual, confidential, and aggregated — then turn the results into two or three real changes.
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What should actually happen at the annual meeting?
Most bylaws require an annual meeting; most boards treat it as a formality with cake. The legal core, the parts worth doing well, and why the ritual matters.
Read the article: What should actually happen at the annual meeting?