Boardroom Ghosting: How Ignoring Staff Emails Drains Nonprofit Momentum
- Tom Iselin
- Sep 23, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Boardroom Ghosting: How Ignoring Staff Emails Drains Nonprofit Momentum
Nonprofit boards play a critical role in guiding the organizations they serve, helping steer decisions, ensuring fiscal health, and offering strategic oversight. However, one glaring issue that’s often swept under the rug is the lack of prompt responses to communications from executive directors and staff.
Emails and important requests from staff frequently go unanswered or receive delayed responses from board members. This behavior, while common, is not only disrespectful but also sends a clear and damaging message to the very people who keep the organization running day in and day out.
Nonprofit staff members work tirelessly, often way beyond regular business hours and sometimes on weekends and holidays, sacrificing personal time and energy for the cause. When their emails are met with silence, it signals that their time, effort, and contributions aren’t valued and appreciated. And worse yet, that they aren’t valued and appreciated.
Board members are in positions of authority, and their actions—or lack thereof—can have lasting consequences on staff morale, organizational efficiency, and overall culture. It’s time to address this problem head-on. Nonprofit executives may not always feel empowered to confront this issue, but they shouldn’t have to. Rather, it’s the board’s responsibility to hold its members accountable for this type of behavior.
Here are three reasons why board members should respond promptly to staff communications, and three steps they can take to ensure they do so:
Three Reasons Why Board Members Should Respond Promptly
1. Respect for Time and Effort
Nonprofit staff often work long hours, juggling multiple priorities with limited resources. When they take the time to communicate with the board—whether it’s to share updates, require approval, request help, seek feedback, ask for a response, or need a favor—they’re not doing it for the sake of formality. They genuinely need board members’ insights, approvals, or feedback to keep the organization moving forward.
When board members don’t respond, it signals that the time and effort staff put into their work isn’t important . . . and that they are not important. This is not only disrespectful, but it also undermines the hard work staff members do behind the scenes to keep the nonprofit on track.
2. Efficient Decision-Making
Many decisions at a nonprofit require board approval or input. Decisions for things like budget adjustments, program changes, staff hires, gala details, facility improvements, and strategic plan updates, can grind progress to halt when board members go silent. By failing to respond promptly, board members are unintentionally delaying crucial decisions and putting unnecessary strain on the staff.
In an organization where resources are already stretched thin, slow decision-making can negatively impact fundraising efforts, service delivery, and overall mission success. However, when decisions are made in a timely fashion, business efficiency flows more smoothly with less stress and greater effectiveness.
3. Boosting Staff Morale
Board members set the tone for the organization’s culture. If staff feel ignored or undervalued by the board, morale will plummet. Nonprofit staff are not simply employees; they are mission-driven professionals who work with passion and dedication. Board members who are unresponsive erode this passion over time, creating a toxic culture of frustration and disengagement.
Prompt and thoughtful responses demonstrate that board members are engaged, committed, and care about the staff’s well-being. Responding promptly can actually serve as a morale booster, showing the staff that their voices are heard and their efforts are appreciated.
Three Steps Your Board Can Take to Ensure Prompt Responses
1. Set Clear Expectations for Communication
As a board, establish clear guidelines and approve policies about how and when board members must respond to emails and other communications. Let staff know that while you may not be able to respond immediately, they can expect a reply within a specific timeframe—24 to 48 hours, for example.
Setting this expectation helps manage the staff’s workflow, reduce frustration and stress, shows respect, and ensures the staff knows when to expect a response. And set an example for following through. As a board member, if you say you’re going to do something, then do it.
2. Prioritize Communication Like Any Other Responsibility
Board members often wear multiple hats, balancing their professional lives with their nonprofit commitments. However, responding to staff communications is not a task that can be placed on the back burner.
Treat communications from staff with the same priority you would give to a meeting or a critical task in your own professional life. Set aside time in your schedule to review and respond to nonprofit-related emails. This means making a commitment to staff’s correspondence. Doing so will ensure you’re not holding up progress of the organization and that staff have the information they need to move forward.
3. Hold Yourself and Fellow Board Members Accountable
Board members must hold themselves accountable—and each other. If you notice that fellow board members are have not responsive, address it in meetings. Openly discuss the impact that delayed responses have on staff and the organization’s efficiency.
Again, consider establishing a board communication policy that includes regular check-ins with staff on how well the board is responding to staff. Peer accountability is a powerful tool, and by fostering a culture of responsiveness, you’ll improve overall board engagement.
Summary
Board members are the strategic leaders of nonprofit organizations, entrusted with ensuring the mission’s success. However, leadership is not just about grand gestures or high-level decision-making; it’s about the small, day-to-day actions that signal to staff that the work of the organization matters—and that they matter.
Failing to respond promptly to staff communications is more than just an oversight . . . it’s a failure of leadership. It demoralizes staff, disrupts organizational efficiency, and shows a lack of respect for the people who are working tirelessly to execute the board’s vision.
Nonprofit executives and staff often feel powerless to address this issue, fearing repercussions or being labeled as annoying and difficult. But it’s time board members recognize the harm caused by their unresponsiveness. By committing to timely and respectful communication, board members can set a powerful example, boost staff morale, and ultimately, drive the organization’s success.
The next time an email from a staff member lands in your inbox, remember: your response matters. Prompt, thoughtful communication isn’t just a professional courtesy—it’s a fundamental board responsibility.
Boardroom ghosting and ignoring emails -- let's change the culture now!
About the Author
Tom Iselin is recognized as one of America’s leading authorities on high-performance nonprofits. He has built nine sector-leading nonprofits and two software companies, written six books, sits on multiple boards, and has been rated one of America’s Best Board Retreat and Strategic Planning Facilitators. His work on nonprofit strategy, board leadership, and culture has been featured on CNN, Nightline, and in Newsweek.
Tom is the president of First Things First, a firm specializing in board retreats, strategic planning services, fundraising strategy, and executive coaching for nonprofit CEOs.
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