Pre-Requisites for Effective Community Management – What Works?

To ensure that Boards can meet these requirements, the following pre-requisites

1. Board members may be passionate about a particular cause, but this is not sufficient. They need a range of skills to fulfill their obligations as directors and to understand the responsibilities of governance. This is particularly true in the financial and risk management areas where issues of expenditure, income, asset management, investment, remuneration of employees, fraud prevention and insurance are essential for the whole Board.
2. There is a need to identify the skills required, recruit and provide orientation for suitably qualified Board members – this can present a challenge and is an issue compounded in rural and remote areas. The changing patterns of workforce participation means that many skilled people are engaged in paid work and have less time available.
3. Board members need to understand the difference between management and governance. The typology of ‘directors govern or steer and managers manage – or row’ may be simplistic, particularly for smaller organizations, and there are various hybrids. But what is right for one organization may not be the best for another. Three main archetypal ways for boards to implement their governance role have been identified (Demb and Neuberger, 1992) as:
   • Watchdog – in which the board provides total oversight, monitoring the process of corporate activity but with no direct involvement
   • Trustee – in this role the board behaves like a guardian of assets and is accountable to members and society for those assets
   • Pilot role in which the board takes an active role in directing the business of the organization.

   Depending on circumstances, the Board may move between these roles. For example, they may move from Watchdog and Trustee mode to Pilot role in situations where there was evidence of a serious breach in safety; or if the CEO was not performing adequately. The Board would then feel the need to intervene directly and adopt a greater degree of involvement.

4. There needs to be a carefully crafted constitution to guide the mission and decision making processes.
5. There needs to be competence and unity of objectives between decision makers
6. There needs to be a positive working relationship between the Board and senior Management.

If the above conditions are not met, this can lead to a Board that does not function effectively, a range of problems can occur

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Related posts:

1. The Dark Side of Community Management
2. Benefits of Community Management
3. The Demands of Community Management