Yesterday, a friend who is the executive director of a very large nonprofit based in NYC told me she’s frustrated with her board.  She was lamenting that she can’t get them to give and do more.  Her solution is to find new trustees and weed out the ones who aren’t performing. This is a common reaction to a common concern.

My response to this challenge is, always, the same: instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water, ask yourself: exactly what are you doing to motivate your board?

My experience is that we all drop the ball here.  We miss so much opportunity when we don’t put time and energy into this vital question of motivation. The challenge of it is enormous.

So what moves us to do things? It’s not a matter of persuasive ideas or even powerful arguments. What moves us to action is a fundamental, emotional belief that we can truly make a difference.  That our work is going to do something meaningful in the lives of others and the world around us.

We are moved to action through emotion, not logic. Emotions wake us from auto-pilot and remind us why we’re here, what is possible and what might be accomplished together.

Here’s an idea that delivers reliable results: at your next board meeting (or staff meeting for that matter) go around the room and each board members to describe the moment when he or she realized that your organization could fundamentally make a difference in the world.

By asking them to talk about the precise moment, they will tell a story of their own emotional connection to your effort. This memory will help them access their sources of possibility, inspiration and imagination.  And it will be woven into the other stories in the room in a way that will stir people to find the capacity to act together in new and powerful ways.

I don’t need science to confirm for me that the overwhelming DNA coursing through the veins of boards is weighted to the left-brain.  Helping your board members find their personal stories locked away in their right hemisphere will go a long way to engaging them and motivating them to action.