Have you ever left a workshop energized by new ideas, and returned to the office only to be immediately consumed with business as usual? Do you ever wonder why your board members or leadership team aren’t equally excited about your new suggestions and ideas? 

If so, you’re not alone. 

At Vantage Point, we’re offering an increasing number of shared learning opportunities for executives, board members and leadership staff to attend together. At the end of most of our Governance Lab sessions I’ll see a few executive directors and board members linger in the training room, deeply engaged in conversation. They can be heard not only planning new initiatives, but also talking about how they will bring the rest of the board onside. Last month, one executive director told us the experience had inspired her and her Board Chair to continue meeting monthly, outside the office, after the program wraps up. It’s one small change; with huge potential impact.

It makes me wonder if the greatest value of these shared learning opportunities is that they provide rare moments together where executive directors and board members can devote time to important, but not urgent stuff.  

How often do you as an executive director get to spend one-on-one with your board members? When do you get time to both check if you’re on the same page AND to tackle new ideas?