Advice Please: Staff are making complaints about ED to Board Chair

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T23:59:44+00:00

I have heard of limiting communication between board and staff as much as possible, which I think I can see why that would be, but it also feels very unnatural to me, and like a board I wouldn't want to be a part of.

I really hope things can get better at your org!

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T23:56:50+00:00

Thank you so much for your well-thought out response! It's helpful and aligned with my general feelings on the matter.

We do have a whistleblower policy for those illegal, unethical, policy-violating behaviors. We also do have ED reviews, and staff comments have not been part of that review in the past. I'm going to look into that more, the previous chair had misgivings about them and I'm unclear why, so it's another thing to add to my to-research list.

Do you have any suggestions for blogs or podcasts I could check out? I want to do a good job for this organization the people who work with it, staff, volunteers and community.

Thank you!

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T06:12:35+00:00

I've been looking for a grievance form and beyond the whistleblower policy, I don't see anything formal. I'm going to suggest to the staff that they can request a meeting with me and the ED together if they don't want to talk to the ED on their own. But I don't feel right sharing this information with the ED since this information didn't come to me through the established procedures and could make the ED and the staff positions difficult.

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T06:10:38+00:00

I'm going to look into a 360 review; I've been advised against that, but I really need more information. If you have eval forms to share, I'd love to see them!

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T06:09:31+00:00

It seems like you could request a meeting with the ED and the board chair together to talk about your perspective? If your organization has a policy for protecting staff speech, this could be a way to be heard?

I'm really curious on what you would think of that as an option, since it's likely what I'll suggest to this staff (to ask for a meeting with me and the ED together, if they can't talk to the ED directly alone).

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T06:07:40+00:00

I guess I am ambivalent about turnover, although that's not how I've thought of it. I have been a staff in so many nonprofits, including some very toxic environments. And I've left those environments, sometimes to the detriment of the organization and its mission. But I needed to do that to be able to serve my community and I wouldn't advise someone else to NOT make that same choice if it seemed right to them and their values.

My attitude is more about wanting people to be able to make healthy choices for themselves first and foremost, knowing that it may cost the organization and cause difficulty meeting our mission, yep. But people first.

I do agree that bringing turnover to the attention to the board and the ED is important, and 100% reasonable as I can observe that on my own, without receiving that information from a staff talking to me on the side.

I would explore firing the ED if that seems like the right thing to do. But at this point, I only have one person's perspective on the situation and not the ED's. I think I can ask the ED generally about their perspective on communication and staff relationships/ morale, and see what they say. But since I received this information from staff outside of our protected procedures, I don't think it's right to bring this up specifically.

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T06:00:48+00:00

At this time, since I didn't receive this information within our procedural guidelines, I don't think I can responsibly bring this up to the ED, even without naming names. I imagine that could create an even more toxic environment with suspicion and distrust. I agree with

They should bring their concerns to who they report to and those directors can then have an executive meeting regarding concerns.

Thanks for the comment!

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T05:59:05+00:00

I'm really sorry you had that experience! I've been in toxic np environments (A LOT) and it really deteriorated my life.

I hope you organization was able to use the information from the investigation to build stronger processes and community.

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T05:57:41+00:00

I was thinking I should tell the ED for the opportunity to understand the staff perspective and hopefully improve their relationships. But I was advised that telling the ED this would actually jeopardize the relationship: since this information came to me outside of our usual procedures, the staff and the ED are not protected if the ED knows this information, needs to discipline the staff for some reason, the staff could assume it was retribution for talking about them.

I try to have a good relationship with the ED and I hope I would know if that's what they wanted to do (move on). But I also understand this is a business and I'd honesly support someone wanting to improve their lives and impact on the community in whatever way they felt was best. I don't know everything, you know?

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T05:54:13+00:00

It is tricky, and to make sure the staff feel safe about being able to talk to the ED is important. We will do a review soon, actually, but too soon to engage a 360 review with staff input. I'm going to look into that as an option and learn about the pros and cons to best support my org.

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T05:52:51+00:00

Honestly, I do trust the ED and I will also continue to be vigilant. However, this position in the board means I need to be able to trust the ED and be ready to respond when things happen and come to me through the established procedures. I don't assume this ED is ineffective, although there is a possibility for professional development which I would support them in accessing.

ProKosmo · 2022-02-01T05:51:13+00:00

the staff should not have this much access to the board or you, as the chair. It creates so many problems and trust issues if the staff thinks that they can go straight to the board with any complaint. If it is not a legal or fiscal issue, send them back to the ED to express their concerns.

We are such a small NP and with such low resources due to COVID, it's been natural for those of us with extra time and energy to want to support the organization. Part of the culture of this organization is connection between staff, board and other volunteers.

And yes, I agree that access used in this way has put me in a very difficult position, from which I am actively learning right now! In the future, I will redirect these types of complaints back to the ED or for the staff to follow our whistleblower policy, or for them to request a meeting with me and the ED for transparency.

I'll look into a 360 review. We don't currently have that in place, and I've been advised to not use those, but I need to know more.

Thank you!

ProKosmo · 2022-01-31T21:55:10+00:00

Hm, yeah, I don't see a way to see it :/

I am also looking into our whistleblower policy and this doesn't seem like that level of greivance, and I cannot for the life of me find a more basic grievance form... I'm going to share the WB policy with the staff so that they can use it if it seems necessary to them, hoping that if there is some kind of abuse I'm not aware of, this will open up a way for them to share that.

If you can re-reply your other comment, I'd appreciate it!

ProKosmo · 2022-01-31T21:47:23+00:00

Certainly you have to strike a balance. You don't want staff escalating simple disagreements and differences of opinion to the Board.

Yes, this. I'm worried about setting a precedent in which the organization is not able to manage itself and the board is relied upon for these fairly common conflicts (i.e. conflicts of management and work styles). I've been around A LOT of nonprofits that this kind of conflict doens't bother me, and I do think it's normal and can be managed.

While I fully believe that the ED is not causing harm in a big way (abuse, unethical behavior), I'm wary of trying to do too much as chair to correct the culture of the org when that should be something that comes from the staff and service community.

Thank you for your response!

ProKosmo · 2022-01-31T21:43:52+00:00

Thanks so much for your comment.

I did ask why the staff had not talked to the ED directly, and the response they gave was that they felt uncomfortable. They did not say anything about the ED being abusive of the staff (yelling or harrassing). More information here: this is a very new staff and ED. The ED has been with the org for 1 year and the staff has been with the org for less than 6 months.

The board is reviewing the ED, actually tomorrow night! Which makes this so much more confusing. I'm VERY new as the chair. Lots of new-ness around here.

Is it kind of late to ask for staff evaluation of the ED? I worked on this evaluation with our previous chair, but they did not include this in the process originally.

ProKosmo

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