How to Improve the Culture & Productivity of Your Association's Board with Christina Becker, VP of Consulting & Online Training at Becker Associates

In this episode, we speak to Christina Beker, VP of Consulting & Online Training at Becker Associates, a family-run business that focuses on supporting boards to be productive, impactful and have a positive impact on the association they represent. Christina has the experience to know how to vet your board members and create a culture of respect and productivity. To learn more about what she does, click HERE. Here are the questions we asked Christina in the podcast. Feel free to use this as a reference to come back to her answers. 00:35 Can you start telling us bit about yourself? 03:55 What are the common misconceptions that people have around non-profit governance? 07:01 When it comes to governance, executive teams and the board has to work together. Where would you draw the line; whose responsibility is it to actually take your governance as supposed to management? 09:25 You mention that oftentimes the board will get too hands-on with the day-to-day management or execution. Why is that bad? Why not get more help? If you have a solid board, people are willing to help out. What issues might come up from that? 12:41: When you say that governance should be your secret sauce to driving innovation, can you tell us more about that? 17:36 If the working culture of a board needs to change because they are not productive in an ideal sense, who are the key players who should be involved in making a change? 22:02 If the board is dysfunctional or if there is a problem in the culture overall, one of the key issues that we often find many people don't take seriously is that sometimes it's a people problem. Maybe we don't have the right team members in the team? In my experience working with a non-profit as well often time, we find that the teams do not invest enough time in recruiting their board as their hires. I think people who are giving you strategic directions, you actually have to be more careful as apposed to hiring your employees in choosing your boards. What are your thoughts on that? 28:06 If an organization is trying to improve its governance overall, what should be the first steps they take? 30:20 Say we started training our board, our board is properly onboarded and they know the basics of helping the organization grow. When it comes to their day-to-day execution, like board meetings or what not, what should the board focus on and what they should not focus on? 35:16 What are your thoughts on how boards should approach driving inovation? How should they try to make their team more innovative? 40:28 What would be your key takeaway for our listeners today? 42:56 What personal habit has contributed the most to your success? 45:21 Can you share a digital tool or strategy that makes you more effective in your work? 48:10 How can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about your work? Special acknowledgement to our guests for providing powerful insights into member engagement. Visit memberlounge.app to learn more about us.