The Head of a well-known K to 12 School for boys was a highly successful leader for 15 years. He had only three Board Chairs: the first for one year, and the next two over the following 14 years. While those two long-term Chairs were crucial to the Head’s legacy and staying power, there was a governance (COT) Chair who served in that role for 12 of the Head’s 15-year tenure.

As a governance Consultant to this Board for almost all those years, in my view, the governance Chair was crucial to the Board’s health and the Head’s success. He was analytical, gracious, reflective, very well organized, perceptive, honest and diplomatic and direct when he needed to be.

Before the annual board governance workshop, the governance Chair would contact me and review the following:

1. An update on the performance of each Board Member including their strengths and any areas where growth was needed in their understanding of the NAIS Principles of Good Practice
2. A bio on each of the new Board Members and their views on issues facing the Board
3. The School’s current strategic challenges
4. The governance challenges the board was experiencing due to external forces or internal board dynamics
5. Any issues or agendas that he thought board members were bringing into the board room, including some that may have been contentious
6. An update on how the Board viewed the Head’s recent performance, and since this Head was a star performer this was always reassuring.
   This governance Chair was prescriptive but allowed me to incorporate his background information into my workshop format.

Every Board Member respected and admired this governance Chair. His insights into the Board Members’ performance were never critical but always enlightening. He focused on the development of all Board Members regardless of tenure because he felt all could and should continue to grow in their roles.

This Board was stable with substantial institutional memory but there were also relatively new Trustees who brought fresh perspectives.

However, new Board Members sensed that the Board had great wisdom collectively and they rarely dominated a discussion or pursued a personal agenda. For the most part they were learning the role, reading the room and understanding governance protocols.

This governance Chair was wise beyond his years and completely aligned with the School’s mission and culture. He was in the role for so long that he had critical institutional memory and worked closely with the two Board Chairs who served during his tenure.

This Consultant believes that the governance chair is the most important board member other than the board chair. Please see our articles on www.Jlittleford.com about the 8 crucial roles of the Governance (COT) Committee.