[00:00:00 ] Lynn Erdman: I'm a huge believer in adding young people to the board. In fact, I did that right before I left my last CEO position. I had interviewed a young lady who happened to have a great position in the city where I was working and I can remember suggesting her to the board and saying, I think she would be a great addition and I can remember the faces like, are you kidding? She's in her twenties. And I can't see where she can contribute. 

I talked to her recently and talked to one of the board members recently, and she is a star on the board and has brought all types of things to the organization.

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Tommy Thomas: Today, we're continuing the conversation that we began with Lynn Erdman in Episode 104.   Lynn started her career as a floor nurse and worked her way up to senior leadership in the hospital. Over the course of her career, she also held senior leadership positions with the Carolina's Healthcare System, American Cancer Society, and Susan B Komen for the Cure. She has also served as the CEO of two healthcare nonprofits. Not only has she reported to nonprofit boards, but she has served and continues to serve on nonprofit boards. Let's pick up the conversation where we left off in Episode 104.

[00:01:20 ] Tommy Thomas: Let's move over to board service because you've served on a lot of boards and currently serve on a variety of boards, I just want to get some of your insights. Let me begin with a friend of mine, Dr. Rebecca Basinger, and her thoughts on governing boards. She says governing boards are charged with safeguarding an institution's ability to fulfill its mission with economic vitality.

To this, I would add responsibility for attending to the soul of the institution. When you think of the purpose of a governing board, what are you thinking about?

[00:01:56 ] Lynn Erdman: Definitely if you're a governing board, you need to make sure that the institution, what it's built on, what it's founded on, all of that is intact and being followed as it should be. And you're really simply overseeing the operation, but not the details of the actual functioning of whatever organization that you're looking at.

I serve on the board of trustees for a university right now, and we are really a governing body. We are overseeing, making sure that we get reports on the finances, we get reports on the changes in academics, but we really are not there to make all of those changes. We're simply there to oversee and make sure and ensure that people that are investing and paying to come to this particular university, that the governing part of it is in good shape.

[00:02:58 ] Tommy Thomas: The Board Chair is such a critical responsibility. Give me some words and phrases that in your mind describe a great Board Chair.

[00:03:09 ] Lynn Erdman: Someone who is willing to ask a question, someone who is very insightful, someone who trusts others around them, and someone who will look farther than many other people who are sitting around him or her.

In other words, they will delve very deeply into a particular issue and they pull good people around them. That to me is a really good leader. You can't have all of the skills. So, if you're forming a board they have to have skills that you do not have yourself so that you can ensure that all the skills that are needed are sitting around the table.

[00:03:56 ] Tommy Thomas:   You served on several boards. How is that most effectively accomplished? How do you fill out the board with all the board needs?

[00:04:07 ] Lynn Erdman: I sit on a different board right now with another university and we actually use a committee as well as the board, the entire board, to look at where we have holes or gaps in what we are trying to accomplish, and we actually have made a grid and we look at it and then we seek out those areas where we really do not have the strength we need to have. For example, we're looking for a legislator, a state legislator because of several of the things that are going on that would be a great addition to this particular board.

So how do we go about it? And then collect ideas. As if you're brainstorming, from everybody at the table, people have got ideas, they've got connections, they've got the ability to tap other people and find out information as well. So I find using the people you've got around you helps as well.

[00:05:11 ] Tommy Thomas: What are the best practices you've observed on onboarding?

[00:05:17 ] Lynn Erdman: The best orientation I've seen is one I saw recently, where they not only got to meet the top people in this particular organization, but they got to actually see the mission at hand. So, if the mission was to take care of homeless people, for example, then they got to see that in action while they were going through their orientation.

And then they had not only information presented to them, but they had a great opportunity to ask questions about every section of the information that was presented. And that actually, because I've seen lots of meetings and I've been in lots of them where it was Board onboarding and you get a book, you get information, you're supposed to read it ahead of time, you come, you have a pretty brief session, you go through some of the finances, some of the things that people don't even understand because they haven't gotten on the board and you're done with your board.

And that, I find leads to the first time they show up at a board meeting, they don't have any way to contribute. And if there's a way to get them more ingrained in the whole organization and what it exists for, then the contributions that the person, the new board member, can provide. I find it much more robust.

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[00:06:44 ] Tommy Thomas:  Somebody is considering joining a nonprofit board. What kind of questions should they be asking themselves or should they have answered before they say yes?

[00:06:53 ] Lynn Erdman: They need to know if they believe in what that organization, that nonprofit is doing because if they don't, then there's no reason for them to join the board.

What I've seen over the years, and what always annoys me, is somebody joining a board to have their name on the letterhead or to add that piece of board responsibility, or board accolade to their resume. And that is just all the wrong reasons to be on a board. If you're really interested in bettering yourself and serving on something, then why do I wish to do that?

I can remember interviewing somebody not too long ago who wanted to join a board. One of the first things she told me was that she wanted to be involved in the community. And then I said, but why this board? And then she got into why. And it made plenty of sense because of her experience and the fact that she had lost a relative with what this organization was focused on.

If you've got a passion, then indeed you should be asking yourself, can I contribute? Do I have time? And will I put the time into it if I commit?

[00:08:13 ] Tommy Thomas:  I'd like to get your thoughts on bringing younger people onto a board. We hear a lot about bringing people in their 30s and 40s into nonprofit board service. I've interviewed people who have been pro that, and then I've interviewed, surprisingly, two or three people who maybe think that maybe people more my age are supposed to have the wisdom to be on a board.  What are your thoughts there?

[00:08:40 ] Lynn Erdman: I'm a huge believer in adding young people to the board. In fact, I did that right before I left my last CEO position. I interviewed a young lady who happened to have a great position in the city where I was working and I can remember suggesting her to the board and saying, I think she would be a great addition and I can remember the faces like, are you kidding?

She's in her twenties. And I can't see where she can contribute. I talked to her recently and talked to one of the board members recently, and she is a star on the board and has brought all types of things to the organization. So I always believe in, and part of the reason is, if you get people younger than the average age on your board, they're going to bring something new, innovative, and thought-provoking to your conversation. I promise they will because they're going to ask things that we live in our world, that we might not be thinking of because they see whatever from a 30-year-old viewpoint versus the average age of the board. It can make a huge difference.

[00:09:56 ] Tommy Thomas: I'd like you to respond to this quote.

You need a director on the board who will be a pleasant irritant. Someone who will force the board to think a little differently. That's what a good board does.

[00:10:06 ] Lynn Erdman: I totally agree. And the reason is, if everyone on the board agrees all the time, then number one, you're never going to get anything done, or you're going to keep doing the same thing you've always been doing.

You've got to have some type of catalyst or a person on the board that is going to challenge. And oftentimes, if you're sitting on the board, you think, oh, that's irritating. I know Susie's going to come up with that. Or I know Frank's going to say something because there's no way we're going to get through this discussion.

But if you're open, it always gets you to a