Three Hats Worn by Church/Ministry Board Members
On March 14, 2019 at our Effective Board Practices training, Carl Nelson, president and CEO of Transform Minnesota taught about three hats church and ministry board members need to wear, and the appropriate times to wear those hats for effective board involvement.
- Governance hat
“This is the decision making role, board members only wear the governance hat when the board meets and is taking a group action,” said Carl Nelson, president of Transform Minnesota.
- Implementation Hat
“This is where the action happens on behalf of the board following a decision made at the board meeting. This could be a board member carrying out an action, following-through with a task, or making some sort of needed communication,” said Nelson.
- Volunteer Hat
“Often the hardest role for board members in nonprofits and ministry organizations, is understanding what wearing the volunteer hat is like. All of their other involvement in the organization is as a volunteer, working on behalf on the organization. Here the board member is not in charge, but is accountable to another person, often working under the authority or direction of a staff person,” said Nelson.
