Ways to improve company culture, and how to fire a board member who isn’t performing or contributing in the way your arts organization or nonprofit needs. Welcome to the debut episode where Aubrey answers audience questions.

For more content on the business of arts and culture, follow Aubrey on LinkedIn, Instagram, or the community newsletter.

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{\b\fs48 Podcast - Season 1 Episode 1\b0}

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{\b\cf2 Aubrey Bergauer:\b0}

{ Oh, my gosh. Welcome everybody. Earlier this year, I put up a poll asking this community, what type of content you all wanted most? And the answer by far was a podcast. So here we are, and I'm giving it a try. Thanks to our sponsor Descript And LUME cube for making it all possible. You'll hear more about them later in the show. }

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{ Okay. What do I do now? Did that work? }

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{\b\cf2 Aubrey Bergauer:\b0}

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{ I'm Aubrey Bergauer, and welcome to my podcast. If we haven't met, I'm known in the arts world for being customer centric, data obsessed, and for growing revenue. The arts are my vehicle to make the change I want to see in this world, like creating places of belonging, pursuing gender and racial equality, developing high performing teams and leaders, and leveraging technology to elevate our work. }

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{In this show, I'm answering your questions on how to build the vibrant future we know is possible, both for our institutions and for ourselves as offstage administrators and leaders. To submit a question, send a voice recording to hello@aubreybergauer.com.}

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{So let's get to it. First episode, first question. This is from Laurie in Maryland. }

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{ Aubrey, how do you reconcile the bullets before cannons company culture with an industry that is using all cannons all the time? }

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{\b\cf2 Aubrey Bergauer:\b0}

{ Oh, my gosh, Laurie, you were referencing Jim Collins. I love this. By the way somebody helped me pick these questions. So I'm not totally over-preparing for these in advance is the idea. We thought maybe this would be more raw or authentic. So as we're diving in here, here are some thoughts in response to this. }

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{Alright, Jim Collins. If you've been around the industry for awhile. You probably know author Jim Collins, if you don't know that name that's okay, too. Jim Collins is the one who coined this term or phrase "fire bullets before cannonballs. " Especially when we're talking about company culture. And he wrote about this in either Good to Great or Built to Last. I can't remember which, those were two of his big books he's known for. And what he was doing in his research is exploring what are the differentiators between companies that succeed and excel over time? 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Versus companies that don't have that kind of success, not for that kind of longevity. And what he found was this idea of fire bullets before cannonballs. }

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{This is such a good lesson for us in the arts. What I mean by this is, before we decide on a new project, new initiative, new strategy. Whether that's marketing, education, development, production, repertoire, I mean anything. And this can go for anything in our organizations before we decide on a big new thing. Instead, find a way to test it on a small scale. First fire bullets first. Fewer resources, meaning people resources, time as a resource, money as a resource. }

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{Less of all of that is the idea of pilot test first. And you have to figure out how to measure that success. So how are we going to know if this pilot project is successful or not? Once we know. Okay, this worked, we are ready to put some real power behind it. People, time, resources, all those resources we were trying to save before. Now we're ready to invest. }

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{That's the Cannonball. }

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{ I always say to my team. If somebody comes to me with a big idea, I like big ideas, but what people don't know about me always is that I don't start with these giant ideas.}

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{Always, always, I go back to, it has to be beyond a gut feeling of why we should do this. Why do you want this big cannon ball idea? . If there's a good rationale beyond a gut feeling or beyond, well, that organization did it. I hate that reason. Then okay. Then we can keep pursuing. Okay. So then we get past that hurdle then, or maybe that question, I shouldn't say hurdle then maybe the next question would be okay then what is guiding us to do this?}

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{Is it data from our own CRM? Something we've learned about our customer base? Is it research we've read elsewhere case study from elsewhere? Is it, you know, whatever, like what's guiding this idea. How did we decide? We want to even examine this Cannonball. And then from there, I would say, okay, how do we test it? If now we have a hypothesis that fill in the blank idea could be really beneficial. How do we test it? Is there a way to sometimes test it is we just have more data gathering. We need to do, I need, we need to look up in Google analytics, what's happening on our website to see if these people are acting in this way, when they do that, or run these other reports from our database to see if that's actually happening historically with our patrons.}

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{So sometimes testing it really is just asking more questions and probing the data. Sometimes it's, if it's programmatic it's, we need to find a way to pilot test this. What does that look like? Is there any way we can do this on a smaller scale? So that's always what I'm going for. How do we put the smallest version of that Cannonball out into the world as a bullet first and then we set up, okay, we're going to run.}

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{This pilot program for three months, six months, whatever that looks like, or we're going to run it for the season, but with the small segment of our audience, again, whatever small looks like, define that upfront and what the end of that will be. And then internally I always call it a pilot project.}

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{I feel like we almost never, at least in my own experience now working with over 50 different clients, including the places I've worked full time. Almost never do I hear anybody talk about anything as a pilot or a test? And so internally I would say let's call it that. So everybody knows this is not set in stone.}

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{This is exactly what it is. It's an experiment. And so, that always is helpful. And then at the end we get to measure, okay, how did it play out? Did it go gangbusters? Was it pretty good, but oh, we know if we do this, this and this different, we know it will be better next time or didn't really produce what we thought- now we know.}

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{ I love it because what happens is. No matter the size of the organization. Once we decide to put the Cannonball out there. We are betting on a winning horse. Now I'm mixing metaphors here, bullets versus horses. Right. you get the idea. We're not saying we're going to go all in on this idea. We're saying we're going all in because we've tested and believe we have the. }

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{Evidence that shows this idea has some real power behind it. Okay. That's the idea. Fire bullets before cannonballs in an industry that tends to weight toward cannons. As you said. }

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{Thanks for the question, Lori. Great way to start us off. }

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{Alright, next up. This is Jess from Houston. }

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{ Do you have any suggestions on how to help overall morale and team energy post covid? I feel like there was a lot of anger, stress and sadness when most of our team was laid off or on furlough. }

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{\b\cf2 Aubrey Bergauer:\b0}

{ Yeah. I that's so real. As I'm recording this, Dr. Fowchee just said we're officially out of the pandemic phase. So here we are in this world that's so different than two years and some change ago. So this is so real this question, and a few things come to mind. }

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{The first is we've got to be better at naming our feelings. This is true for me too. I'm awful at naming my feelings, really bad about it. It wasn't something I was raised or taught how to do. And so now here I am as a grown adult, trying to figure this out, and I used to think this is all so woo woo. What I've learned though, is that it's vulnerable, yes, but it's also powerful. So this is something we can do, no matter our role in the organization, no matter our seniority. }

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{If our people who are more senior to us are not doing it. We can do that in a meeting. We can do that in a team meeting in a staff meeting. }

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{To be able to name it and say it: I'm feeling tired today, guys, and that's not an excuse for me to deliver less work. That's me naming what I'm feeling. Okay. So let's distinguish between the two. We can say, especially earlier in the pandemic, we can say things like, wow, this is really hard right now. }

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{Yes. I am feeling stressed too. And I'm feeling like, I don't know all the answers either. That's okay. That's okay for a leader to say. That's okay for the CEO to say. It's naming our feelings and it's authentic. And the research shows, this is very Brené Brown based research. The research shows that when we do that, one, we're real, we're authentic. But two, that's helping to establish psychological safety because we don't have all the answers sometimes, or we don't feel a hundred percent all the time. And so. In some ways, maybe it almost seems counterintuitive that, you know, we're naming our feelings and maybe that feels weak or something. That's what I used to think. And then I've just learned, oh no, the research has to do this is actually more human, and therefore actually produces better results in the team and in myself. Okay. That's the one name? The feelings. Two. }

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{We have entered this time where we are now in this not fully virtual world, for a lot of us, a hybrid world. And I'll say this, if we're not in a hybrid world for those organizations or those people saying everybody's got to be back in the office five days a week, six days a week, during the concerts, in the office during nine to five, all that kind of stuff that is so antiquated. }

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{Not every one of us has to be in the office all day, every day to get the work done. We have proven that out the wazoo. Okay. So now that we're in this hybrid world, though, what is also true is that this is the most challenging of the three. The three being fully virtual, fully in-person or hybrid. Hybrid is the most challenging. So we can do it. We've proven we can do it. }

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{But it's the most challenging. }

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{This is also from research. And this is now what organizational psychologists are saying. So it's not impossible, but it's hard. Why is that? Well, because by nature of having some people remote, even if it's part of the time. Maybe for some people they can do their jobs fully remote. }

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{It's the mix is challenging because by nature of being remote, that person or those people are automatically othered. There it's a little bit out of sight out of mind. It's also... it takes extra work to engage with people when we're not passing them in the hallways, or passing by the cubicle or seeing them in the break room or whatever. However your office set up is right. Like, those are the positives of the in-person work that we, I was going to say we all miss, and maybe I should say a lot of us miss, maybe not all of us, but those things have to be intentionally replicated for our remote teams are remote people. That's why this combination of hybrid work is the most challenging. So there we go. Name it, call it, and we can now address it. }

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{The third thing I would say is to then be intentional about it. I always say, this is for many organizations now, California symphony. Back at when I was on contract at the San Francisco conservatory. }

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{Maybe even back to my days at the Bumbershoot festival. I've said for multiple teams, that I've managed- this is all even pre pandemic. I don't care when the work gets done. I don't care where the work gets done. I care that it gets done on time and to a high degree of quality and more recently I've added in, and that you're nice to your colleagues. No assholes in my workplace, please. Okay. So, as long as those are our guiding principles, we need to give people autonomy and freedom. To deliver that that means they can go pick up their kid. If they got to leave to go pick up their kid at school, it means they can, work remotely in a location that they like for some of the time or depending on the role, maybe more of the time. I know it's difficult when we give performances. Obviously we have to be there onsite to do that. So I'm not ignorant to that. Of course. But some of these jobs we can do at least part of the time out of the office. Okay. }

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{So. Allow for that, allow people to be autonomous, allow people to deliver that work. And like I said, it must be on time and to a high degree of quality and you must be nice to your colleagues. If we could meet those requirements, that's okay. We have proven not just in the arts, but nationwide even, maybe globally have proven that we can be effective and efficient workers in this hybrid post COVID world ahead. }

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{I hope that helps Jess. Great question. }

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{Also as an aside, when you all send in your voice recordings, I'll put this on the website, but if you could say your name and where you're from. We're going to sound like full on talk radio over here. So that would be awesome. }

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{Now we're going to pause a second to hear from our sponsor. I am super excited to be sharing this with you all. This is a brand I personally choose to work with and that I know arts organizations can benefit from. }

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{ With board members... I'm sure we've all had this. If you've had board members, I had depended on them to accomplish a few certain things that those things need to evolve. They like things to say the same. And I now need to have that talk with, Hey, John DOE, I love what you're doing. I appreciate it. We need to make these slight adjustments. So, I'm just wondering how would you go about a situation where you have to gently encourage someone that has no incentive to change because it's, they're not doing anything wrong. It's not written down in their board member agreement or anything like that. And they're not doing anything to really merit removal. They're just, something isn't firing right? }

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{\b\cf2 Aubrey Bergauer:\b0}

{ Basically what you're saying, if I'm understanding is either, how do we let go of a board member when they're not delivering, not producing. Not meeting expectations or how do we resuscitate, energize and engage a board member. So two different sort of approaches. }

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{We could do a whole episode or more just on boards. . So anybody else who has board questions, please send them in because there's tons of tons and tons we could talk about with boards. }

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{I'm going to back up though, before we ever even get to this point of this crossroads moment, come to Jesus moment with board members. So wherever you are, raise your hand if you've had that moment. Right. Okay. So this is such a real common question I think. And so to back up way, way, way before that. }

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{The success or challenges with board members, to me, at least in my experience, start way back at the recruitment process. So board members, just like our employees, need clear expectations. This is a job. It's not a paid job. It's a volunteer role /effort, as we know. And it's still a role though, in a job. So board members need clear expectations. Most of the time at organizations of all sizes, we don't do that. We do not lay out what we need and expect from our board members. So here's how this needs to go: }

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{during the recruitment process, we need to have a document, a list. These are the expectations you need to attend board meetings, not some board meetings, not most board meetings. You need to attend board meetings. Now everybody's going to have times in their life where they can't make the board meeting. Fine, but the expectation is that you're there and the very rare exception is that you're not. Okay. Thing one, you need to be there. You need to be present. Two. We expect you to make an annual gift. Whatever that looks like for your organizations. And there's a whole rabbit trail we could go down of, do we state a minimum gift or do we say here's the range or here's the average, because the second you put out a number that's actually an anchor. Low anchor. And so we don't want to limit what some board members have in capacity. The converse of that is that maybe other board members bring things to the table besides their annual gift. So I'll just say this for now: they need to have skin in the game. Need to. That is the role and part of the fiduciary responsibility, in my opinion of a board member, they need to have some skin in the game. So whoever your handle, the monetary financial expectation, that's got to be outlined up front, too. }

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{What else? You need to serve on a committee. You can say, here are our committees. I'm a big fan of taskforces. That's a whole other topic, too, task forces versus committees. Let's get in and get the work done, get out whatever it is, task force committee, you need to be on a committee. Here's what we've got here are the options. And even better. If part of the conversation during recruitment is where do you see them? }

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{Sometimes they meet with prospective board members and I have a very good idea of exactly where I want them and want their help and expertise. And sometimes I'm not sure. And I want to hear from them. What do. What do they want? What do they think? How do they see themselves fitting in? Okay. What else? You can put another expectations. You got to buy a gala table. For example, you need to buy. }

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{Tickets to concerts or performances you know, whatever the things are. That we want. From our board members. These are the expectations. So put them on a list and we need to go over that. So during the recruitment process, here's what happens. }

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{Board member basically is two options from there to responses, they can say. Yeah, that is not for me. I am not here for that. Fine. Fine. Let's be clear. And let them go on their way. We will try other ways to keep them engaged and connected and really no means no for now. Right? I always think that, so just no, but fine at the answer in the moment. It's not what, I'm not what I'm looking for. Okay. That's going to save us a lot of frustration down the road. }

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{If that's the outcome. Maybe not what we want, but. You know, that's life. Okay. The other option is the board member says. I see what you're asking of me and. I'm in, I am in all the way. Down now, what have we done now? We've set ourselves up for a board member. That when we say jump, they say how high. }

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{Right. That is exactly what we want and need from our boards for them to say, I understand my role. I understand what I'm doing here. And I'm in and I'm in all the way. Wow. What a difference that will make an our board cultures. }

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{One other thing that's coming to mind. I want to say on all of this. Last summer, summer into early fall, I guess it was, I rotated off a board. I was serving on the axle board association of California symphony orchestra. As I had served on that board for six years. Really proud of that organization really loved my board service. And my final year I served on the governance committee, which. }

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{Is tasked with this exact process, both recruitment as well as. Answering these questions. What happens when a board member. Isn't totally. }

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{Delivering or meeting the expectations in the way we need them to. So we were having this exact conversation and. }

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{We were saying I'm really proud of the governance committee at the time, because we were saying amongst each other. We have got to be willing to have some hard conversations with our board members. We had long time board members, old school board members. We had newer board members. }

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{And we said, no matter who the person is, if we're not seeing what we know, we need to see as an organization. We've got to be willing to have some of these hard conversations. Otherwise, the culture of this board is not going to change. }

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{And I'm so proud of that group of people, because. The other thing that we so often don't do is how have those hard conversations. And when we do, sometimes, you know. Okay. Let's be fair. }

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{This is a hard conversation, whether it's a board member, an employee. }

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{Anybody in our life is hard. Conversations are hard for a reason, right? There's a reason why as humans, we shirk away from that, shy away from that. I get it. }

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{Sometimes an organizations, board members never want to have those conversations with their peers. So sometimes that's left to the CEO or executive director. And that's not right because the CEO reports to the board. So we need board members to have conversations with fellow board members. It must be peer to peer. You can't fire your boss. Or give your boss a performance review. That's not how that works. Right? So. }

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{Board members have to be willing to have some hard conversations with other board members. And as I said, this goes right back to the first thing I said, if we're recruiting well, thoroughly with that kind of standard and checklist, whatever the expectations are, those conversations actually, aren't as hard because we get to say, Hey. }

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{You know, I noticed you haven't been to several meetings this year. Let's talk about this. We want to make sure you're present and you're here. What's going on? That's a lot easier conversation to have because we brought that person on. We said, you gotta be there. That's expected. So. That's what I'm thinking. Our board cultures can do so much better and it's not rocket science. These are people who by and large want to give their time, talent, treasure, right? We want these people in the fold and we can do. Better to strengthen that culture and help them be able to deliver their best for us. Thanks for the question. }

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{ Hey off stagers. Is that what I should call you? Okay, you're here listening to this podcast where I'm answering questions. And one of the questions I get asked the most is if I offer coaching and mentoring. The short answer on this is yes, but here's the honest problem. It's usually fairly costly because I can bill an organization a lot more for some hours of my time than I can an individual. }

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{So I've been thinking about this a lot, and I decided to create an opportunity to address this. It's a group coaching course called the Summer Uplevel. We're meeting four weeks this summer, twice a week, first on Monday evenings to cover topics like managing up to your boss or a board, how to stand out in job applications, and getting buy in for your ideas. And then there's a second meeting later each week to get coaching around those topics or other topics you want to make sure we cover. }

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{Those small groups are with like-minded peers who are at a similar place in their careers as you. So for example, if you're a mid career person and trying to get to that next level of responsibility, say, like a department head, you'll be with other people in a similar place with similar experience and similar goals. If you're an executive director wanting coaching, you'll be with other executive directors. If you're a student, you'll be with other students. You get the idea. }

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{You'll also get a one-on-one session with me so that we can really dive into your specific situation, your goals, and strategize how you can get there. }

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{If you are the kind of person who has an idea or goal in mind for yourself, even if it's vague or loosely formed and you want clarity or support in making that happen, then the Summer Uplevel is for you. Please consider this a personal invitation as I really did make this for you, and I'd love to work with you. Visit my website, aubreybergauer.com/summeruplevel to get the details and register. }

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{That's all for today, folks. Thanks so much for listening, and keep up with more content like this by following me on LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter @AubreyBergauer. And Definitely hit that follow button to subscribe to this podcast. And I have one more favor to ask: if you liked what you heard here, will you please leave a review and rating? I've learned it really does make a huge difference, and I'd be so grateful for your help and support in that. Thanks again. See you next time on The Offstage Mic. }

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{ The Offstage Mic was produced by me, Aubrey Bergauer, and made possible by Descript. I used to Descript to record, edit, set audio levels, and make the trailer as well as the video teasers on social media. I couldn't have done it without them. And I recommend any marketing team or individual creator should definitely use this tool too. Thanks again to Descript for making this project and many others I've done possible. This is a production of Changing the Narrative. }

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