I received an all-hands email from the board of trustees at my seminary. It struck me as painfully honest, unusually informative, and striving for a new transparency with the seminary community.

Without going into the arcane of seminary, I came away with two observations to share with you.

 Transparency is critically important at all times in a community’s life, and especially so when change, challenge, conflict and/or uncertainties are afoot.

 As important as information is, engagement is even more important. If you want people to care about what you are doing, give them vehicles for caring.

I have served on enough boards and led enough boards to know that secrecy seems inviting at all times, and secrecy seems especially inviting when the board has functioned poorly.

Board members are only human in not wanting their mistakes or conflicts known. It’s hard enough to be dealing with the consequences, without having people outside the inner circle grousing from the sidelines. They want constituents to be confident and at peace.

Unfortunately, constituents can generally sense when tough times are at hand, or when leaders are fighting. What they need then isn’t confidence in the institution as it might be if it weren’t going through this travail. They need confidence in the board itself. And the only way they can have that confidence is knowing what the board is doing and seeing wise decisions made, as well as grappling with the inevitable mistakes. The consequence of secrecy is distrust.

First step, then, is transparency: disclosure, information, honest admission of error, status reports, avenues being pursued.

Second step is engagement. It isn’t enough to keep people informed. You also want to provide ways for them to engage. Make comments, at the very least. Offer their services. Join problem-solving teams. Offer to contact others. What the board needs will depend on the situation, but the board needs to recognize that it needs, at the very minimum, to hear from constituents.

The board needs to make that happen. Insert a feedback or comment button on each email, for example. Acknowledge feedback received. Respond to offers of assistance, even if the answer is No or Not now. Not just some vague promise that the consultant being brought in will interview people at some point, but the board itself paying attention.

Yes, both transparency and engagement add to the board’s work. But resolving the issues won’t mean a thing unless these two steps are taken. Keeping constituents in trusting mode and engaged is the board’s primary work.

Will the board still make mistakes? Of course they will. But constituents are much more likely to take mistakes in stride if they trust the board’s overall good intentions and wise performance, and if they feel engaged in the process.

About the Author Tom Ehrich

Tom is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of Fresh Day online magazine, author of On a Journey and two national newspaper columns. His website is www.morningwalkmedia.com.