A great deal of the success of your organization is dependent upon building a strong board.
Follow our steps below. And be sure to use these BoardOnTrack tools:
Here’s how to effectively interview and fully screen your board candidates.
1. Have them visit the school, and attend a regular board meeting.
It should be mandatory that a potential board member attends a regular board meeting and visits the school at least once before they are nominated for the board. If your board meets at the school, you might be able to combine these into one appointment.
If they are too busy to attend a meeting or visit the school, they will most likely be too busy to be an active board member. And, you can’t be certain that they know what they’re signing on for.
2. Go into your interviews with the right mindset.
Before you talk with anyone, keep in mind that you are not making commitments or extending invitations at this time.
By maintaining this attitude during the interview, you will be able to gracefully direct the individual to a committee or volunteer activity in the event that she or he is not appropriate for a board position.
Don’t just sell them on the opportunity. To make sure the candidate is a good fit, especially for mission and time, requires a good deal of active listening. But if you’re focused on convincing them to take the role, you’re not focused on what they’re really saying. So be sure to let the person talk, give you opinions, and ask questions.
3. Follow a well-structured interview process.
Good process will help you determine if the prospective board member and your organization are a good match.
Through structured dialogue, you’ll get a sense of whether they’ll be a valuable resource to your organization. But, the interview is not just the time to ask questions. Go through the job description with them in detail. Make sure that they can fulfill each and every responsibility and that they have the time to commit.
Follow our complete candidate interview process to ensure you don’t miss a step or a key point to cover in your conversation.
Pro Tip: More than one person should meet with each candidate and test for mission/culture fit. For instance, schedule in-person meetings with your CEO and other board members.
4. Ask the right questions.
Be thoughtful and strategic about the questions you’ll ask. Prepare your board candidate interview questions before you even begin your candidate search.
Especially if you’re exploring the candidacy of several board members, ask each of them the same questions to compare and contrast them fairly.
Most boards might begin by asking how familiar they are with charter schools in general, and your charter school specifically.
It’s vital to directly ask if they’re prepared to use the skill you are recruiting them for.
Some people are happy to use the skills they employ all day (e.g. accounting) when they volunteer. Others prefer to do something new when they volunteer. (“Use my accounting skills? No thanks, I do that all day. I was joining this board so I could learn more about curriculum design.”)
From there, the right questions will depend on your board’s needs and your vision of an ideal candidate.
5. Evaluate all candidates using the same tool.
Use an objective ranking or scoring tool to screen for the key categories -- expertise, teamwork, commitment, and philosophical alignment.
And have your candidate ranking tool in place before you even begin recruiting so that you’re ready when you begin screening candidates.
Once you've effectively evaluated and screened your candidates, you're ready to move on to the nominating process.
These resources can help:
- Nominating: How to Nominate Candidates to Join Your Board
- Nominating: Sample Trustee Nominating Policy
- Nominating: Sample Policy for Nominating Non-Board Members to Committees
- Nominating: Should the CEO Have Veto Power Over Board Candidates?
- Nominating: Should we have an open election for board candidates?
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