Distinguishing a Board’s Steering and Rowing Work by William Ryan

As described in the book Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards, to govern comprehensively, boards work in three modes: fiduciary, strategic, and generative. To use a metaphor in which an organization is a boat, boards can make two distinct types of contributions: steering and rowing.
When steering, the board collectively:

• Sets the direction of the organization;
• Determines which values and logic will guide it; and
• Ensures the organization’s resources are used prudently to advance its work.

When rowing, board members individually or collectively expand the organization’s resources by, among other things:

• Offering pro bono professional services or expertise to management;
•  Volunteering as front-line service providers;
• Advocating for or championing the organization and its mission in the community; and
• Helping to raise funds to sustain the organization’s work.

It can be useful to distinguish steering and rowing by using a substitution test. Rowing work is substitutable. The board does not need to contribute to the organization’s resources, financial or otherwise, as long as it is satisfied they are adequate. For example, a foundation whose board does no fundraising because of its large endowment is not necessarily ungoverned. Given the assets of the organization, the board is simply not called on to do such work.

In contrast, steering work is not substitutable. An organization whose board is not steering may be led by its executives, and may be influenced by other stakeholders, but it is not legitimately governed unless its board deliberates and makes intentional choices regarding the organization’s values, strategies, and performance. (When it comes to oversight of management, boards are non-substitutable not just on legitimacy grounds but also as a matter of practicality: by definition, management cannot oversee itself.)

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/governancevoice/19496-distinguishing-a-boards-steering-and-rowing-work.html

Stephanie Doty
Discouraging NP Dysfunction
August 9, 2014
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/