Few boards have the luxury of establishing an organisation from scratch with a perfectly tailored corporate governance structure, roles, policies and processes and nor did Habitat for Humanity Australia (HFHA). After a change of constitution in 2008 the Board reviewed its practices for recruiting new directors to ensure new directors would possess the right values, skill, experience and commitment to contribute to the growth and development of HFHA.
For most NFPs, both board and CEO search and recruitment is a challenging task, which demands careful thought, detailed planning and significant time to assess the comparative strengths of often very different candidates. Search and selection is now commonly done by experts for a fee but for small organisations this is often not an option so HFHA utilises in-house resources to find the right people.
Finding and interviewing new directors
Identifying independent directors through traditional channels rather than using a recruitment specialist has been successful for HFHA albeit demanding a lot more time and effort on the part of directors. Searches through board contacts and advertising on targeted NFP job sites have proven useful in identifying skilled people with a desire to be involved with a NFP board.
Initial conversations with prospective directors provide background on the role and HFHA and enable the nominations committee to understand the strengths and experience the candidate would bring to the board and how they align with current skill gaps. More formal discussions on role and responsibilities follow, then CV and reference checks, a meeting with the Chair and finally a recommendation to the board.
Alignment in values between candidates and HFHA is critical. Potential directors must be willing to support our vision and values wholeheartedly. More than once has a recruitment process reached a final stage only to fall at this final critical hurdle.
Assessing motivations
Assessing a person’s motivation is tough because there is little incentive for becoming a NFP director beyond the satisfaction of making a real difference to the community. It’s imperative to assess whether a candidates real motivation is to use the position as a short-term stepping stone to more high profile or commercial boards. It’s hard to identify but essential as this can lead to unwanted turnover on the board, which from the outside could wrongly be perceived as organisational instability and board management issues.
We have experienced some turnover in past few years, some unavoidable due to employment transfer or retirement, but in hindsight some was avoidable had our research and interviewing been more thorough. Now we are prepared to search longer and harder for a candidate with strong commitment, aligned values and good skills.
Inducting new directors
Once appointed, a comprehensive induction program enables new directors to meet the CEO management team and receive briefings and documentation on program and service goals, budgets, plans and challenges. The importance of this initial step cannot be overstated.
Settling in a new independent director without previous exposure to the specific organisation or the NFP sector is not a one-day process. It can take up to a year for new directors to understand the complexity of the organisation, goals and challenges, secure opportunities to work with staff and volunteers and identify how they can make a personal contribution.
Committee membership is an excellent way to become familiar with an organisation. It’s also a good idea to assign new directors a buddy and take time to get out to where services are delivered and get to know the culture of the organisation. In addition, formal courses can help to provide an overview of the sector and expectations of NFP directors.
The HFHA board today
Much of the HFHA in-house board recruitment process is straightforward with several simple tools to support it, however, the strength of the HFHA approach lies in careful thought about HFHA specific needs and detailed planning to implement this with limited resources in a small organisation.
We have all been on a board where a new director either failed to understand the role and leaves after a short and unproductive period or fails to perform and fills a board seat long term without contributing. At HFHA, we are confident that our board is strong, well-balanced and brings a matrix of skills and experience that supports the CEO and management team.