{"id":68,"date":"2011-06-02T11:52:30","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T15:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/?p=68"},"modified":"2011-06-03T16:13:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T20:13:05","slug":"all-onboard-the-importance-of-orienting-your-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/2011\/06\/02\/all-onboard-the-importance-of-orienting-your-board\/","title":{"rendered":"All Onboard!  The importance of orienting your board"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong>Most of us are, or have been, on a board or steering committee, joined a group, or worked with others on a club or community project.\u00a0 We <em><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900237769.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-86 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900237769-294x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"133\" height=\"136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900237769-294x300.png 294w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900237769.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 133px) 100vw, 133px\" \/><\/a><\/em>m<em> <\/em>ay have had a formal or informal orientation or had little introduction to the gr<em><\/em>oup at all. Our first interaction with a board, committee or group shapes our relationship with, and expectations of, the group. If your board is welcoming new people to serve, remember that orienting and educating new memb<em><\/em>ers, or reorienting experienced members, is key to effective <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/extension\/community\/buildingcapacity\/?Page=boarddevelopment.html\">board development<\/a>.<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are some reasons to conduct board orientation, and ideas of when to<em><\/em> do it, from the <a href=\"http:\/\/ctb.ku.edu\/en\/tablecontents\/sub_section_main_1096.aspx\">Community Toolbox<\/a> , a resource from the<em><\/em> University of Kansas, w<em><\/em>hose mission is \u2018<em>promoting community health and development by connecting people, ideas and resources\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/DOCUME%7E1\/AMERIC%7E1\/LOCALS%7E1\/Temp\/moz-screenshot-6.png\" alt=\"\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/DOCUME%7E1\/AMERIC%7E1\/LOCALS%7E1\/Temp\/moz-screenshot-5.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>W<\/strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/DOCUME%7E1\/AMERIC%7E1\/LOCALS%7E1\/Temp\/moz-screenshot-7.png\" alt=\"\" \/><strong>hy is it important to welcome and train new Board members? <\/strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/DOCUME%7E1\/AMERIC%7E1\/LOCALS%7E1\/Temp\/moz-screenshot-10.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A proper welcome and training will help new members&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Take on their roles in the organization both quickly and comfortably.<\/li>\n<li>Feel more connected to one another.<\/li>\n<li>Feel more connected to the organization.<\/li>\n<li>Better understand their role on the Board &#8212; why they were asked to join, and what is expected of them as members.<\/li>\n<li>Operate from the same &#8220;script&#8221; &#8212; that is, to understand the vision, mission, and their roles in the organization in the same way.<\/li>\n<li>Feel more motivated to do a better job.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>When sho<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900104882.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-91\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900104882-300x223.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"147\" height=\"109\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900104882-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/files\/2011\/06\/MC900104882.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 147px) 100vw, 147px\" \/><\/a><strong>uld you welcome and train new Board members?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It depends on your organization, how often you meet, and how often new members join the Board. Many Boards find that holding an official orientation session once a year, either before a regular meeting or during the organization&#8217;s annual retreat, makes most sense. If your group has a certain time of year in which it recruits new members, it makes sense to hold this meeting immediately after new members have been recruited.<\/p>\n<p>Recruitment can also take place both more casually. A more casual approach makes most sense when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The organization is local and\/or very small<\/li>\n<li>The new Board member already knows most of the existing Board members<\/li>\n<li>The new member is already very familiar with the organization&#8217;s work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For that type of Board member, there&#8217;s almost never a bad time to welcome them to the Board family &#8212; this informal orientation can occur as needed with very little fanfare.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about Boards in general, check out <strong>http:\/\/www.ncnb.org <\/strong>The National Center for Nonprofit Boards, or The Blue Avocado at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueavocado.org\/\">www.blueavocado.org\/<\/a> \u201cpractical, provocative and fun food-for-thought for non-profits.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us are, or have been, on a board or steering committee, joined a group, or worked with others on a club or community project.\u00a0 We m ay have had a formal or informal orientation or had little introduction to the group at all. Our first interaction with a board, committee or group shapes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":613,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18929],"tags":[22994,22995,22986],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-board-development","tag-board-development-2","tag-orientation","tag-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}