New Years resolutions are a bit like trustee board decisions; made in earnest, but often not actioned. Tesse Akpeki looks at how trustee boards can stick to their resolutions in 2014.

Sometimes I know even as I write them down that my resolutions will never come to fruition. They bear no relation to the reality of the situation or to me. So starts the Hegelian battle of wills between what I want and what I think you want. A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol showed that 88 per cent of those who set New Year resolutions fail despite the fact that 52 per cent of the study's participants were confident of success at the beginning.   60 per cent of gym membership taken out in January goes unused for the rest of the year!

It’s a bit like problems on trustee boards. A charity board decides on a direction, which never will come to fruition, because of risk-adverseness, one difficult board member,  lack of leadership, unclear directions and challenging board room behaviours.

If that New Year resolution or new initiative is looking like a distant memory, don't give up just yet.  Here are my New Year resolutions that could help trustee boards –

Set clear goals

A board taking a resolution to have good meetings is too vague. To be more sustainable boards need to set small measurable goals -

•    Design meetings so that no trustees will want to miss it
•    Have focused agendas and make sure meetings are productive and address issues that matter
•    Make sure the board collectively commits to the goals

Take a resolution to encourage better boardroom behaviours

What cues trigger bad boardroom behaviour?  Understand the cravings underlying the behaviour before eliminating it. Work out exactly why  board members are displaying inappropriate conduct.  Have a quiet word with the board member who dominates board meetings. A way forward is for the chair to find a way that his views can be productively tapped during board meetings.  The chair can also encourage him to get better at listening to points of view from other board members so that there is a more balanced and robust exchange of perspectives, leading to better decisions. Everyone wins.

Share your resolutions

I have witnessed the powerful shifts that result from boards of different organisations coming together to offer peer support.  It is awesome.

For that angry board member, take time out when you feel you are tempted to blow up

Before stamping your feet and making that heated comment give yourself ten minutes to consider what is really going on.  

Apply meta-learning to focus on getting better

Meta-learning involves developing and acquiring new skills.  

It would only take about two members of the board to apply coaching skills and design a coaching and mentoring programme for the whole board and committees to feel the benefit of the improvements.  

So if the board feels like a failure as it commits to New Year resolutions, maybe it's time to rethink  its approach.   Hats off to the past and coats off to the future!