A key to organizational success? Evolving your board.

I remember my first one-on-one meeting with my board chair as a newly-minted and young CEO at a different organization years ago. The meeting was at his office. I sat in the waiting room until he appeared and walked halfway toward me. He wagged his finger, instructing me to follow him, and walked back to his office. No handshake. No greeting. Only an unspoken “come this way."

"Well,” I thought, “this isn’t going to go well."

But it did. He turned out to be a terrific mentor, effective board leader and close partner in our work together.

For those of us who lead nonprofits (and the same is probably true in the for-profit world), a strong working relationship with the chair of the board of directors—including a shared understanding of the board’s role in governance and CEO’s in management—is essential to a healthy organization. At a conference last year, I helped organize a panel discussion that we titled: “CEOs and Board Chairs: The most important relationship in the organization.” In many ways, it is.

That’s why I’m both looking back with thanks this month and looking forward with anticipation. Here at UNICEF USA , the board chair with whom I’ve had an excellent partnership for the past four years has ended his term and a new chair I’m excited to work alongside has taken up the role.  

Our board has undergone an important and positive transformation under the leadership of chair Ewout Steenbergen , whose day job is as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) . He assumed his role as chair at the same time I became CEO and we’ve shared the same vision to build a best-in-class board while building a best-in-class organization.

I asked him recently what prompted the transformation he led—one he will quickly say was a team effort with his other board officers and members. 

“Most importantly,” he said, “we took a few steps back to consider: What is the mission of UNICEF USA? Where do we want to bring it? How do we modernize it? It was important to align board governance with the overall direction and mission of the organization. To do this, the board needed to add different perspectives and new energy. We needed to make the board really dynamic and to mobilize the entire board to support the modernization of UNICEF USA.”

That the board needed transformation, Ewout said, was not a criticism of past board or organizational practice. Rather, he said, “That kind of change is a good standard for any organization. Never accept the status quo. Never be too satisfied with yourself. Just because you’re doing well doesn’t mean you will still be in the next five years.”

Key aspects of the transformation included more formal rotation of board members and the establishment of vibrant committees, where much of the board work has been done. 

“This is such an incredible organization, so people don’t really want to leave the board,” Ewout said. “But we needed to refresh, to bring new perspectives, new experiences, new dynamics. Formal term limits were part of that, as were empowered committees. We made it clear that if you are a board member, it is not only about making a donation and having your name on the website. You need to contribute, to be active, and that largely happens through the committees.”

“When you create a collaborative board environment, everyone feels they are a part of something important,” Ewout said. “And it’s also more fun!”

Our new chair, Bernard Taylor , who has led a long and distinguished legal career with a leading international law firm, Alston & Bird , plans to keep up the fun and the high level of engagement. He’s served as an important partner to Ewout as vice-chair for the past two years. He and I plan to put in the work to ensure a strong chair/CEO partnership going forward. The key to that, he said: “Genuine friendship and trust.”

In my experience, having now worked with six board chairs in three different organizations, that trust is built through regular communication, transparency and adherence to a “no surprises” rule. We keep each other informed.

And when that trust extends beyond the chair and CEO to the organization’s senior management team and the rest of the board, the important line between governance and management holds, and both groups can do their best work.

As Bernard put it: “The combination of our thoughtful and innovative management leadership team and board members, who are outstanding community and corporate leaders, allows us to consistently improve the effectiveness of our mission to improve the lives of our planet’s most vulnerable children.”

That’s our collective mission—board and staff—here at UNICEF USA .