Coach Your Way to Better Governance

I felt that I was not adding value to the board and was about to resign. In one last attempt at rescuing the situation, I went to see my coach. He listened patiently while I told him what was going on. He asked me a number of questions, and was able to establish that, for the first year as a board member, I had been very quiet. After that year, I had started contributing at board meetings, but no one seemed to pay attention. When a male board member said the same thing I had just said, people seemed to nod in agreement, where they had ignored me. I was feeling demoralized and disengaged.

During our coaching time together, we agreed on some actions I could take to turn the situation around. I offered to give it three more months before quitting. Two years later, I was not only still on the board, I had become a member of the audit committee, a member of the awards committee, and was asked by the chair to represent her at various events.