TAKING A GOOD BOARD TO
THE NEXT LEVEL:
THE AADE STORY
BY MARCIA DRAHEIM, AMPARO GONZALEZ, LANA VUKOVLJAK
AND DOUG EADIE
There are a number of reasons why the odds are stacked
against successfully implementing important changes
in an association board’s role, structure and governing
processes. For one, human beings, including board
members and executives, tend not to like major
changes. Another reason is the failure to build the kind of ownership among key stakeholders (especially board members) that
turns them into champions for change. Who hasn’t seen one of
those logical, beautifully crafted reports prepared by an outside
consultant end up collecting dust because key stakeholders
weren’t involved in shaping it? •
This article describes how the strategic governing team —
the board of directors, volunteer leaders, CEO and senior executives — of the American Association of Diabetes Educators
beat the odds in accomplishing significant governance reform
during an18-month period. We’re confident any association can
put these lessons to good use. •
DRAMATIC ACTION
On Feb. 1, 2008, the AADE board of directors unanimously
approved a number of recommendations aimed at transforming an already dedicated, hard-working board into an even
higher-impact governing body. This was the culmination of
the first phase of the AADE High-Impact Governing Initiative,
which kicked off in November 2007 with an intensive daylong
work session involving the board, senior executives and a number of volunteer leaders. The ad hoc group that designed the
November session — the “strategic work session design committee” — presented and explained the recommendations that
the board acted on at the Feb. 1 meeting, including:
• Adopting a “board of directors governing mission” establishing the board’s major governing functions and responsibilities to “serve as a framework for further developing the
board’s governing work, structure and processes over time
in the interest of high-impact governing;”
Putting in place a new structure for the 22-member board,
consisting of four “governing” committees corresponding to
the board’s primary governing functions and consisting only
of board members: governance; planning and development;
performance oversight and monitoring; and stakeholder/
member relations;
Adopting a set of operational guidelines for the board’s new
governing committees to ensure they “function as strong
governing engines.”
In the year since the AADE board took action, the organization has fully implemented the new board governing committee
structure and already has realized a rich return on its investment
in the High-Impact Governing Initiative. A board that tended to
get mired in technical detail now focuses on higher-stakes issues,
primarily as the result of the thorough preparation of the board’s
