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Governance SIG: How to Repair a Toxic Board


A toxic board can derail your association from focusing on its mission-based work and advancing the strategies of the organization. This behavior can spread throughout the association resulting in personal and business repercussions. Is this fixable? While repairing a toxic board is not easy, it is important for both your staff and your association. This program provides insights from the Associations Now article, “How to Repair a Toxic Board,” published in October 2023, which outlined takeaways from the 2023 Report of the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission: Culture as the Foundation: Building a High-Performance Board. You will learn top strategies and proven approaches to immediately help positively shape boardroom culture; thereby enabling greater excellence in governance. Boards can adapt these concepts based on their needs with clear, actionable steps.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Define an optimal board culture.
  2. Reinforce its culture and set behavioral norms.
  3. Address “major cultural fault lines”.
Note: This program is NOT eligible for CAE credits.