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Case Study:
Dealing with Marginal or Disruptive Board Members

This hypothetical example further illustrates our approach.

Situation:
A high-tech company originally selected board members that were right for the company's stage of development. However, as the organization grew and changed, it became evident that some members did not have the skills or experience to continue to provide value. 

One of the members was a "nice guy" but other board members believed that he could not develop the necessary skills and knowledge to provide valuable input that would be necessary in the future. 

Another member was disruptive and exhibited inappropriate behavior to both the staff and fellow board members. 

Unfortunately, the board had not established any means of evaluating the contributions of individual board members - let alone making changes to the board's make-up.

The majority of board members have resigned themselves to this dysfunction. They prefer to tolerate the two ill-equipped board members rather than take definitive action. 

Dortch Consulting Group Solution: 

DCG conducts an evaluation of the board operations, committees and, if desired, each board member.

• Each member evaluates how the board is performing and the value the board is providing to the organization. 

• We provide a peer evaluation process to determine the effectiveness and contributions of each board member (optional). 

• We present the findings of the survey and interviews regarding the board's performance to the entire board and the committee reports as instructed by the board.

• We provide confidential feedback to each board member regarding her/his results.

Often times it's easier to do nothing rather than take action. But if issues are getting in the way of the board's ability to provide value, steps must be taken.