Training Needs Analysis

Project Overview

The Forest Glen Community Association Board of Directors, the governing board of the homeowner’s association for 99 property owners in Anne Arundel County, is facing two big hurdles in 2012: First, it wishes to gain community support to pass a one-time assessment on each homeowner in order to catch up to backlogged community maintenance projects. Second, it needs to gain support for an amendment to the bylaws.  The bylaws currently require a quorum of 200 property owners for key items, as these were written at a time that a second phase of the community (which was never built), was expected.
However, the board would also like to take a look at its own operating procedures, particularly when it comes to gathering information, acting on key items during its board meetings, curtailing the time board meetings currently take, and communicating better with each other and the community.
This project seeks to identify what training can help not only the board, but the important Environmental Protection Committee, which meets jointly with the board once a month. These two volunteers groups hold the key to upholding covenants and architectural standards that maintain the quality of life in this community.

Assumptions:
•The Board is interested in and willing to take part in an activity that would improve the way it functions.
• The Board (former and current members) will provide honest and complete answers to questions about how meetings are conducted and current ways of handling things.

Analysis Plan:
This plan seeks to probe two key areas:
• What knowledge do Board and EpCom members have about the effective facilitation of the types of meetings that a governing board, with fiduciary responsibilities, should  have? That is, while they may have some knowledge and experience of process for decision making in boards such as this, do they have the kind of knowledge that will allow them to best approach community issues?
• Various members of this board have varied responsibilities: What knowledge should the president, managing company representative, EpCom chair, and other members have of meeting facilitation that would allow them (as specific individuals with specific duties) to meet goals such as taking action on key items now carried over to future meetings.

INPUTS — Please click on each input for an explanation and for findings.

INPUTS	PURPOSE	METHOD
Feedback from  board members, current and past (two years out)	Determine how members perceive meetings, what they would like to change,and what they know about effective meeting facilitation.	Survey
Feedback from  current president and immediate past president	Determine what the two guiding forces on the board know about meeting facilitation.	One-on-one interviews
Feedback from additional members of the board	Determine what knowledge and experience of decision making key individuals bring to the meetings.	Focus Group
Board Binders (given to every new member of the board and EpCom committees)	Analyze what information is given to new members who join the board; determine what responsibilities are conveyed to new board members.	Extant Data
Meeting minutes	Analyze where items bog down, whether perceptions about meeting length and efficacy match up with the historical record, board practices in starting and ending meetings as well as handling agenda items.	Extant Data

Summary of Findings

Findings from individual inputs are included with each section. Probably the most important findings to take into account are the value the board places on its harmonious relationship and its desire to act in the community’s best interest. Many participants in interviews, focus groups, and surveys said they would be never return to the days of the board’s contentious meetings, even if it meant long meetings and delayed action.  Members value the commitment and congenial approach of the board president, yet recognize a need for a firmer hand on the rudder when it comes to managing meetings.

In summary, members are tired of long meetings and know they can put their time to better use. They welcomed an opportunity for what one member called “an intervention.” Nearly all members pointed to two factors in a need to act more decisively and quickly: 1) the board has ended with an operating deficit for the past two years and 2) members began deliberating on new community bylaws in the spring of 2010 and were still unable to present them to the community in June 2011.

Training Recommendations

1). Implement a two-hour workshop for all EpCom and FGCA board members on effective meeting facilitation. These two groups work closely together and both identify a need for improved facilitation:

These would include concepts such as “WAIT” (Why Am I Talking); the Parking Lot (for holding unrelated items to last); and Guidance Questions (particularly for president of the board, EpCom chair, to focus discussion on resolving issues).  Schedule a brunch to follow the morning meeting to accommodate busy schedules and reward board members with the social time they enjoy.

Findings indicate that board members do not see the need, nor have the time, for anything longer.

Training materials would include information from these books:

Adams, T.; Means, J. &  Spivey, M. (2008). Project meeting facilitator: Facilitation skills to make the most of project meetings. Hoboken, N.J.: Jossey-Bass.
Streibel, B. (2002).  Manager’s guide to effective meetings. Blacklick, OH: McGraw-Hill.
Kaner, S. Lind, L., Toldi, C., Fisk, S. & Berger, D. (2007). Facilitator’s guide to participatory decision-making. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

2.) Working with a subject matter expert (an SECU board member), develop special coaching sessions for the board and EpCom chairs on “gentle” ways to redirect chatty boards and to develop agendas that better reflect the time available for board discussion an action. As an association executive, the proposed Coach has special knowledge of meeting facilitation and governance. Items would include using an agenda template and guided questions.

3.) Add a “quick-start” guide to the new member board packets. This would include a recap of items covered in the workshop. When new members join the board for their first meeting in August or September (after election in June), they would have a guide to the board’s process.

4). Add a dynamic version (Lectora or Camtasia) of the board workshop and quick-start guide to a new Intranet site created for board communications (which will help address the many non-training needs identified in this analysis).