A Board Induction Kit was launched at last year’s conference by the CBAA’s Training Services. In this article, Nicola Joseph talks about the “self help” kit for boards and how community radio stations can utilise it. Click here to download the full Board Induction Kit as a PDF document, or read the article below for a full introduction to the kit.

Some stations call them the Board of Directors, others call them the Management Committee. They have probably been called a lot of other names (which we can’t print here) at some time in the history of your station.

Yes, these are the people elected every year at your radio station to represent the members’ interests.

While some new stations may still be riding the high, which follows the victory of getting a full-time licence, older stations would probably admit to having experienced both “good” and “bad” boards. See if you recognise any of the following characteristics in the boards or management committees you have known.

Good Boards:

• hold regular open meetings which start and finish on time
  
• circulate agendas before meetings and make their decisions public
  
• monitor the cash flow by examining monthly financial statements
  
• ensure that the constitution of the station is followed at all times
  
• establish means by which broadcasters and other members can make suggestions and complaints
  
• resolve potential conflicts before they happen i.e. deal with complaints both quickly and effectively
  
• ensure that all deals and contracts are in the best interests of the station.
  
• always call in resource people when they don’t understand something
  
• ensure the station has the required policies and procedures in place to meet the standards set out in the Code of Practice for the sector.

Bad Boards:

• start their meetings late and usually have no time-frame (everyone leaves feeling bad)
  
• meet without an agenda and fail to make effective decisions or record them accurately
  
• don’t know how much money is in the bank and what bills the station owes
  
• can’t remember the last time they saw the constitution
  
• make decisions according to the personal interests/rivalries in the station rather than collective interests
  
• refuse to acknowledge what they don’t know or understand

If you recognise any of the above characteristics in your board or management committee, chances are they are part of a wider problem. Does the board or management committee understand its role and responsibilities? Or the big question: does the board understand the difference between governance and management?

It is becoming increasingly difficult for stations to find committed volunteers to fill places on the board or management committee. Too often, people end up on the board to fill vacant spots rather than because they have some skill or talent, which is needed. At the end of the day, it is important for everyone involved in community radio to recognise that while we require people to undertake some form of training before they go on air, we don’t require people to do training before they go on the board.

The Board Induction Kit is your opportunity to change this now!

How to Use the Kit
The CBAA’s new Board Induction Kit will help both good and bad boards carry out their duties. It is designed as a kind of self-help kit with suggested exercises and checklists for new boards to work through. It can also be used as a self-assessment process for boards who think they are okay :)

Alternatively, you may be one of those people who has been on the board since the station began and you can feel that it is time to plan your departure. Volunteer boards often become reliant on one or two of the more experienced people who are able to recall the policies and procedures before anyone else has time to think. The kit can be used in this context as a way of supporting the transitional process of handing over power.

In the kit you will find a number of information sheets, which are really plain English explanations of roles and responsibilities. These are deliberately brief and provide the starting point for discussions at the board induction sessions.

The first section of the kit deals with why we have boards or management committees and their legal responsibilities. In this section the kit provides a Code of Practice checklist and a media law quiz for board members to complete as group-games/exercises.

The kit also has checklists on money matters and how to establish effective governance at your station. While most boards and management committees have good intentions, one of the most common problems is the lack of understanding between “governance” and “management”. This becomes even more of a challenge in stations where there is no paid staff. Often people find themselves as both managers and board or committee members and things can get easily confused.

All of the information provided in the kit is designed to be flexible and relaxed in its delivery. It is important to recognise the importance of these get-togethers being fun and positive experiences so we suggest that your board finds a nice place to meet, gather some food and refreshments and spend a few hours going through the material in the kit.

On line Troubleshooting Resources
The Board Induction Kit is available for download by following the link above. It will also be supported by a number of resources to help Boards and Station managers deal with common problems in stations. We will be adding to these resources all the time, so it’s worth checking these out on your visits to www.cbaa.org.au
The resources will include examples of policies and procedures, performance appraisal checklists, and links to the many useful sites where you can read more about governance and management matters.