As readers of this blog may be aware, I’m a big fan of the governance model known as Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (PDBL). If you’re not familiar with PDBL, it follows four basic principles:

1. Purpose Over Organization – commitment to an organization’s mission, core values, and immutable vision (i.e., the social outcome that is the reason for the organization’s existence) above the outcome that is the best for the organization in isolation
2. Respect for Ecosystem – commitment to decisions and actions that take into account how they may impact the organization’s (a) communities (e.g., service recipients and other beneficiaries, employees, volunteers, donors, allies, adversaries, applicable geographic communities) and (b) ecosystem (including the natural environment in which the organization operates or impacts)
3. Equity Mindset – commitment to advancing equitable outcomes without favoritism built on systemic and historic discrimination, personal self-interested preferences, or doing what has always been done
4. Authorized Voice & Power – commitment to leadership and decision-making based on sufficient representation and engagement with the organization’s key communities served by the organization

PDBL in Context

It’s important to understand that PDBL does not fully inform the roles and responsibilities of the board. But it does help the board to better understand its role and fulfill its responsibilities.

According to BoardSource, the board’s roles include:

• setting direction and strategy;
• ensuring resources; and
• providing oversight.

According to a seminal book on governance, Governance as Leadership, there are three modes of governance:

1. fiduciary
2. strategic; and
3. generative.

And, for each board member, there are the legal/fiduciary duties:

1. duty of care and
2. duty of loyalty

With respect to nonprofit governance, it’s relatively common to see reference to a third legal/fiduciary duty, the duty of obedience, which some will say is embedded in the two traditional duties of care and loyalty. This duty is related to compliance with the organization’s mission, governing documents, and other policies and applicable law.

Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (PDBL) completed the work with a wrap-around framework for exceptional, authorized, and equitable board governance. PDBL addresses how the board conducts its work; constructs, recruits, and engages its members and embraces and serves its community. The application of PDBL better positions and equips governing boards to center and advance equity and justice. – Board Member Roles and Responsibilities, BoardSource

Implementing PDB

Learning more about PDBL and how it may help in organizational decision-making is the starting point. Sharing such information with other leaders of the organization, including some board members, comes next.

The four principles of PDBL may be viewed as intuitive once you overcome some initial resistance to moving away from traditional norms. Other common challenges include a lack of alignment between the board and the executive regarding (1) the organization’s purposes and values, (2) their respective roles, and (3) their understanding of the current challenges.

Such problems may benefit from (1) the help of a consultant or facilitator, (2) a few committed board members willing to learn alongside the executive leadership, and (3) a learning environment that allows the board (or at least some of the board members) to get a better understanding of the interdependence among the organization and its various communities.

With respect to the intuitiveness of PDBL, generally speaking –

• Boards have always known that their organizations must act in furtherance of their missions and values. I can’t imagine a board that would think that decisions to improve the organization’s mission-related metrics can be made without consideration of investments to help assure that the organization’s beneficiaries are treated with dignity and respect.
• If the core values of the organization also include selecting their targeted beneficiaries fairly (e.g., not merely selecting them based on what is most convenient to the organization) and in a manner that recognizes that these beneficiaries have important information regarding their needs (as big companies understand and seek out through market research), it makes sense for a board to seek their input and participation.
• If the core values of the organization include doing no harm to the other communities they impact, it makes sense for a board to identify and consider potential harms resulting from its decisions and from their organization’s actions and, in some cases, inactions.
• Boards have always known that their organizations serve to advance their missions for some extended period of time, typically not limited by a defined lifespan. So, it makes sense that a board must allocate the organization’s resources with such consideration as well, with the understanding that there are times when resources allocated now will advance a mission much more effectively than resources allocated later when it may be too late to stop a harm to the mission and values or take advantage of a limited opportunity for great advancement.

To champion a strong-functioning board that makes a significant difference to how effectively a nonprofit advances its mission and values, you need to engage the board members. They need to be reminded about not just preserving the status quo and protecting charitable resources, but also locking in on the advancement of mission and values. Once they buy in to such role, PDBL is a great framework and one that I think is groundbreaking.

Past Posts on PDBL

Purpose-Driven Board Leadership, Legally Speaking

More on Purpose-Driven Board Leadership

NAAG/NASCO Charities Conference: Purpose-Driven Board Leadership

Purpose-Driven Board Leadership and Climate Change

FSG Podcast: Purpose-Driven Board Leadership

Additional PDBL Resources

Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (BoardSource)

Purpose-Driven Board Leadership: A Conversation Starter for Boards

The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (Anne Wallestad, SSIR)