The Leadership Partnership

Part of the Templates for Trustees series, The Leadership Partnership examines the critical relationship of the executive director and the board. Surveys help to identify areas of concern or weakness and help the organization’s leadership focus on improving procedures and strategies for improvement.

The Leadership Partnership is volume two in the Museum Trustee Association’s Templates for Trustees series. The book and customizable web-based templates feature tools that help boards to consider their options, identify their priorities, and plan their actions at this critical moment in a museum’s life cycle. In addition to the manual and on-line website, purchasers have access to the ongoing assistance of MTA staff. As nonprofit management becomes more challenging, thinking about the relationship between the board and the director is evolving. The bright line between the board’s responsibility for policy and the staff’s responsibility for management is blurring. The Leadership Partnership explores and supports this critical partnership between the executive director and the board and helps leadership develop strategies and approaches appropriate for the individual institution. A series of online surveys allows board members to look at their own performance, that of the board as a whole and that of the executive director across ten critical areas of museum management: mission, vision and strategy; professional development, board operations, individual relationships, oversight, finances and fundraising, collections, facilities, and public engagement. The final template guides users into turning the findings from the surveys into a leadership plan, to be presented and discussed with the board.