Boards should first ensure that Directors/volunteers have clearly documented expectations of their role. These expectations are generally provided in Board Terms of Reference and/or a Job Description and Board Operating principles. If the forgoing are not in place the first step to improving performance would be to develop these tools, ideally with input from those in the roles, including the non-performing individual.

Ideally sport organisations have a policy and/or procedure for how non-performing Directors/individuals will be managed. In this instance the approach is clear, have the courage to implement the process.

Where a policy does not exist, the Board/Committee Chair or individual to whom the volunteer reports should take the individual aside and ask what their understanding of their volunteer role is. This should open the door for a discussion on expectations, potential reasons for underperforming and the opportunity to come to agreement on the way forward. Based on the discussion the Chair can determine if they think it necessary to follow-up the discussion in writing. Such a situation should be a flag to the Board for the need to establish the previously mentioned documents.

Joan Duncan
JDI Consulting

There are many 'R's' of volunteerism - we recruit volunteers, retain them, retrain them, renew them, reward them, recognize them .... and sometime we retire them. Board members who do not perform are a drain on the entire organization. Collectively, every board should be open to assessing its performance and should do so on a regular basis. Individually, ever director should be informed of his or her fiduciary duties and of the importance of fulfilling them, for both legal and moral reasons. Many people end up on a board because they somehow wanted to make a contribution, but they never really thought through whether serving as a director was the best way to contribute. Imagine Canada says that only about 5 percent of all volunteers are suited to being directors. A board member performing poorly should be approached by the chair of the board for a discussion about his or her performance. If progress is not likely, then the director should be asked to step down and a replacement found. It is also helpful for organizations to have written job descriptions for directors, and to have directors sign an agreement to uphold their fiduciary duties and responsibilities. These policies and commitments make it much easier to deal with a director's poor performance.

Rachel Corbett
Centre for Sport & Law

First and foremost, all Board members need to be well prepared on roles and responsibilities of their Board position prior to running for the post - if this is not clearly articulated, on-going confusion and lack of clear understanding can certainly contribute significantly to the appearance of "poor performance" by a Board member. Likewise, the President/Chair and senior staff person need to ensure that there is a strong orientation for the volunteer Board member once they are elected to the Board.

Secondly, the Board itself needs to be clear on its scope of roles and responsibilities collectively - this needs to be a priority agenda item for all newly formed Boards annually. Part of this discussion should also be the manner in which the Board will collectively assess its effectiveness.

"Poor Performance" is somewhat subjective, but a Board must indicate what it perceives to be behaviours or attitudes that are not consistent with effective Board management - it is best to formalise this in a "guiding principles" document for Board members on an annual basis. Ideally, each Board member would sign off that they agree and will adhere to these "guiding principles" - by doing so, this gives the collective Board some power to deal with peers who are not adhering to the principles agreed to collectively.

The President/Chair need to be entrusted with the responsibility to deal with matters pertaining to Board member effectiveness, following the guidelines that have been instituted within the association. In the case where the President/Chair is the focus of concern, then there needs to be a mechanism whereby the Board collectively can deal with the matter.

Each instance or issue will require a customised solution - some are just friendly reminders to individuals of their responsibilities, others are more serious and could include removal of duties or even legal action. In all instances, the Board and association need to make sure that they have the appropriate formal policies in place to deal with such matters and, as importantly, show appropriate "due diligence" in their manner of dealing with the matter.

Ian Moss
Canadian Olympic Committee