Board Email Protocol

Board Email: Reduce, Reflect, Rejoice!
By Mary Broach
Created 09/03/2010 – 05:34
Board Cafe [1] • By Mary Broach • September 2, 2010 • Email [2] Print [3]
Most nonprofit boards use email, and most board members get driven crazy at some point by it. One such person — Mary Broach, co-president of Impact100 in Philadelphia [4] — was getting 30 – 40 emails from other board members every day [yikes!], and she decided to draw up some guidelines:
Four ways to immediately reduce the number of emails:
1. For many items, pick up the phone first. If a topic is complex or nebulous, start by talking it over with another board member. That way a clear proposal (perhaps with alternatives) can be sent to everyone on the board. Or consider a conference call among a few people rather than an email to everyone on the board.
2. If you’re mad or upset, wait 24 hours before replying, and think about using the phone to resolve the situation instead of sending an email.
3. If you get an email from someone who’s mad or upset, don’t “reply to all.”
• Bad: [reply to all] Your tone really bothers me and you don’t understand the situation.
• Better: [reply to one person] I’m not sure how to interpret this. . . could you elaborate what you’re suggesting the board do?
4. Don’t ask open-ended questions that will spark a lot of back-and-forth.
• Bad: Do you think we should meet to talk? Who should come along? Where should we meet?
• Better: Can the three of us meet about the agenda on Thursday at 9:30 at Milk Boy? If that doesn’t work, how about anytime Friday morning?
Get your email noticed – the first time – by the other board members who also have too much email:
1. Use a purposeful subject line.
• Bad subject lines: “Hi” or “Info”
• Good: “Agenda for July 20 Impact100 retreat”
2. One topic per email — that way people will know it’s easy to read and respond. If multiple topics need to be covered, put them into numbered paragraphs so the responses will be easy to understand.
3. Put peoples’ names in the “To” line, rather than addressing the email to an address group called “Finance Committee.”
Demonstrate that you’re email smart:
1. If you add another name to an email conversation in progress, be sure you also call attention to it: “I want to be sure X knows about this, so she has been copied on this email.”
2. If you’re the board chair or other leader, use “pre-emptive strikes” to streamline discussions:
• Email from board member to all (typically tossed in at the end of an email on another topic): It occurs to me that we should consider changing our guidelines this year in line with all this.
• Pre-emptive strike from board chair to all: I’ll talk to X and other people who are interested in this idea and pull together some proposals to discuss at the September 14 board meeting.
3. Email is a postcard: don’t put it in email unless you are comfortable with having it published. Avoid discussing lawsuits, your sister’s surgery, or the incompetence of a fellow board member.