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  • Home
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  • Board chair authority

Board chair's authority

The chair’s authority and responsibilities:

  • Starting and ending the meeting on time.
  • Setting a positive tone for the meeting.
  • Preserving order.
  • Moving the meeting along by adhering to the agenda.
  • Keeping discussion centered on the issue.
  • Allowing all sides of an issue the opportunity to be heard.
  • Treating all board members fairly and equally.
  • Understanding basic parliamentary procedures.
  • Bringing issues to a conclusion.

Interpersonal skills are important to your position:

  • Encourage - Be friendly and responsive to others; accept others' contributions.
  • Mediate - Identify areas of compromise, recognize differences of opinion and ideas, and conciliate.
  • Monitor - Make sure all board members participate. Limit discussion by those who dominate. Keep the discussion on the issue.
  • Set standards - Promote professionalism, establish rules of conduct, model ethical behavior.
  • Initiate – Suggest new ideas, propose new activities, encourage creative thinking.
  • Seek information - Ask for relevant facts and data.
  • Clarify - Probe, restate, define discussions, identify points of agreement.
  • Test - Check to see if the board is ready to take action.
  • Relieve tension - Know when to defuse conflict and repair wounded feelings.
  • Summarize - Review the discussion, defining its content. Bring out important points. Identify needed actions.

Related content

  • Executive sessions
  • Board secretary
  • The board meeting agenda
  • Choosing the chair
  • The board chair and first amendment

Recommended Resources

When you're in charge as the board chair...

As a new board chair, you suddenly find that you are making decisions, and that 'basic rule' is less defined.

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