Quote from Rachel Feltner on February 12, 2024, 4:44 pm

Hi everyone! Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place...

I was wondering if we could start a conversation about leadership development within organizations. To explain where our organization is at...

Our organization, Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton (LEAD), is coming out of a restructuring process. Part of this restructuring process involved creating a self-perpetuating board. We have been successful in electing board members who reflect the identities of the communities we serve, but we are finding it challenging to keep our board members consistently engaged with LEAD's work. This inconsistent engagement is a significant issue because of our organization's small size and limited resources. From my perspective, I see a couple challenges that are affecting participation.

1. 1. For some of our board members, this is their first experience on a board of directors/trustees
   2. A lot of our board members have leadership obligations with other non-profit organizations that limit their availability
   3. LEAD is coming out of a restructuring process and is in the very early stages of its new work. Without a proven track record or tangible results, it could be hard for a board member to feel that their investment of time is paying off
   4. The board (in my opinion) is not yet at the "norming" stage of group development, so their relationships with each other are not an effective motivating factor

I'm wondering how other organizations handle leadership onboarding and development. I'm also wondering if anyone has perspectives or advice on how someone in my role (a community organizer) can foster board engagement and leadership development.