Board Goals
2018-2019 Board Priorities
When Stephen Covey talked about putting first things first, he used the term “big rocks”. The analogy is that your time is like a jar that you fill with rocks and sand. Rocks are your initiatives and sand is the minutiae of your life. If you put sand in your jar first, you will not have space for your big rocks. If you prioritize your big rocks first, you will make progress on your priorities and you can fit in the sand/minutiae after addressing your priorities.
Over the past few years, the board has decided to use this metaphor of Big Rocks to prioritize its work so that it doesn’t got lost “in the thick of thin things,” or minutiae, to use another Stephen Covey-ism.
Below are the Big Rocks for 2019.
Board members are assigned to each Big Rock and each month, the board will report out on progress toward advancing these priority initiatives. Board meeting documents detail measurable objectives and strategies to achieve them. Board communications liaison Rebecca Crawford is summarizing board activity in a monthly newsletter article available here.
Some bullet points may be a little “inside baseball.” If you have questions or are interested in learning more, I invite you to email me (Jacki Weber, Board President) at president@uusm.org!
BIG ROCK #1 - FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL PROTOCOL or EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING
● Board, Staff, Volunteers understand their respective charges, who they're accountable to and where their authority begins and ends
● Minister's role is less than 50 hours/week (and we need to develop a plan for what to do when that doesn’t happen. Maybe hire someone 10-15 hours/week)
● Key leaders work less than 10 hours/week
● It is a Right of Leadership to curb armchair quarterbacking
Leading Partners All church committee heads and Right Relations
BIG ROCK #2 - MISSION AND VISION or WHY WE ARE HERE..AS A "WE CHURCH" RATHER THAN AN "I
CHURCH"
● It's important to move beyond "living our principles" to "living out UU principles in our community"
● What unites us?
● What's our larger call?
● What's our shared responsibility?
Leading Partners Formal and informal congregational leaders and Right Relations
BIG ROCK #3 - RAISING TRUST, LIMITING CONFLICT, BECOMING HEALTHY AS A CONGREGATION or YOU COULD FEED A LOT OF HOMELESS PEOPLE WITH THE RESOURCES WE DEVOTE TO CONFLICT
● Making Covenant of Right Relations a living document. It's understandable that we get anxious. Let's be gentle. All leaders call people to covenant and learn. Wellbeing of congregation given priority over the privileges of the individual
● Make leadership safer with adaptive solutions
● Educate congregation re: redemptive vs unproductive conflict
● Board Work: cultivate non-reactive and non-engagement response to agitation
Leading Partners: Right Relations
BIG ROCKS #4, #5, AND #6 DEVELOPING MEMBERSHIP, LEADERSHIP AND HEALTHY STEWARDSHIP or
MEMBERSHIP IS MADE REAL THROUGH LEADERSHIP, SERVICE, AND FINANCIAL COMMITMENT: OUR
WORK TOGETHER IS TRANSFORMATION
#4 MEMBERSHIP
● Reality Check: Need 15% membership growth/year to replace dying/leaving members
● 3 new member cycles/year
● Path to membership: UU101 Class and Materials that articulate rights and responsibilities
● Membership is everyone's responsibility (e.g., provide hospitality, build relationships)
#5 LEADERSHIP
● Need to shift toward a culture of leadership development (e.g., sew in leadership development to Membership, Social Justice, and Religious Exploration just like Worship Associates and Pastoral Care Associates)
● Board and nominating co-create leadership development program
● Invite (strongly suggest) all current leaders participate in leadership development alongside prospective leaders both self-ID'd and other-ID'd
# 6 STEWARDSHIP
● 60% of all pledging members and 80% of those giving $500+ are canvassed one-on-one
● Recruit 40 connectors
● One campaign only
● Use WNOV as leverage for Sustainability Fund
● Board feeds vision to stewardship
BIG ROCK #7 CONGREGATIONAL SAFETY or PROCEDURES AND TEAMS THAT KEEP US SAFE
● Create policies
● Help congregation understand the policies
● Create teams to respond per policies
● Officially operate "as if" until policies are officially adopted