33. Evaluating A Church Board Member

I would suggest that this document initially be kept confidential to the board. Perhaps after several iterations and the board members develop a level of comfort with and confidence in the process, then a more public distribution of the report might be considered.

Go slow. Build consensus for each stage. As agreement is made, build the decision and the processes into a board member’s manual so that as new board members are appointed, these matters become normal expectations. Remember that people can be hurt very easily and misunderstandings can occur very quickly if the process is mishandled. The goal is to build a person’s capacity to serve well as aboard member — not to tear down or abuse.

One last suggestion. The most important evaluation is the one that is done when considering a person for a board role. Although it is possible for people to develop new competencies and habits, to think that a person can be “changed” into a particular mode probably is unreasonable, if not naive.

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