Communicating as One Voice: Board Aligned Messaging

Strong boards know that healthy debate happens in the boardroom—but alignment matters when decisions are made. In this episode of Board Leadership Bites, Brian Jordan and an KASB President, Dr. Emily Riner, explore how consistent communication builds trust, supports superintendents and strengthens governance. Learn how boards can practice message discipline, clarify decisions and communicate with confidence as one voice.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:07

Welcome to Board Leadership Bites, a short podcast brought to you by the Kansas Association of School Boards. I'm your host, Dr. Brian Jordan, the Executive Director of KASB. Today's topic is one of the most powerful and sometimes most challenging parts of governance: communicating as one voice, a board-aligned message. When boards speak clearly and consistently, trust grows. When messages vary, confusion follows. Joining me today is Emily Riner, the current president of KASB Board of Directors and a longtime board member of Perry LeCompton School District. Welcome, Emily.

Speaker 1 0:36

Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 0:37

So today's topic is one of those things that when it's done well, I think people take for granted. But it's really, really important to have a unified message coming out of the board meeting and sharing throughout the community. So when we talk about communicating as one voice, what does that actually mean?

Speaker 1 0:52

Yeah, to me, communicating as one voice means that while your board members are going to have differing opinions during discussion, once a decision has been made, the board speaks consistently. We have shared messaging, and publicly we are all supporting the outcome of that vote. And that is not about silencing everybody's individual perspectives. It is truly about honoring the collective decision of the board and then moving forward with what was decided as best for the district, whether or not you agree with it personally. And this is something that I I truly appreciate about my local board. It is something that every member at the table feels really strongly about.

Speaker 2 1:38

Yeah. Two key things I heard in there. It requires some discipline to do that. And it honors the decision that the body made or that the board made as a whole.

Speaker 1:46

Right.

Speaker 2 1:47

So what are some specific skills that that need to be developed or that you uh personally have used to make sure that that happens, maybe skill in the right word, but strategies or actions that you've done or seen done to ensure that that discipline is maintained, that a unified voice happens?

Speaker 1 2:03

Yeah, I think I think there are a few best ways to do this. So one critical skill is going to be message discipline. So once we leave the board table, we should have agreed upon some talking points that reflect our decision, our rationale, why we did it, making sure everybody on the board is very clear with what those are, and then being able to have the discipline to stick with that message that we decided. Another important skill is going to be just a level of self-awareness. Um, we need to know when we're communicating with someone am I talking to you as Emily your neighbor, or am I speaking to you representing my entire board? And as a board member, I think it's important to remember that more often than not, perception is reality. And I am now speaking on behalf of and representing my whole board. So just having the self-awareness of that. Um then I then I think the last one is going to be listening appropriately. So we have to be able to effectively hear and respond to the concerns of our community because they will come to us with them. And we need to be able to do that in a way that doesn't undermine undermine the decision of our board. So I I just read a book by Igobathea and she describes three types of listening. And I I think a distinguished leader really knows when to use switch. So channel one is listening to respond, channel two is listening to understand, and channel three is listening for connection. And board members have to effectively use all three and know when to sort of switch to the next channel.

Speaker 2 3:54

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's that's a skill that you probably have to develop over time and be aware of because we hear countless stories of school board members uh not in a mean way, say something casually at a at a ballgame or say something, then all of a sudden that that comment becomes the perception of what the board's focus is or the priority of the board. And so listening to respond, I think do I need to give my opinion or do I need to give the board's opinion? Do I need to understand this deeper? Uh I love that framework, and that might be something we talk about in a future podcast. But um how does a I'm gonna I'm gonna pick at some of that. So so you mentioned that am I talking to my neighbor? Am I talking as a board member? How do you manage that as a board? Because sometimes things get mentioned, and it's not meant to be harmful to the board's decision or the board's message, but how does a board ensure, how do you manage that maybe a comment that got made at a ballgame or out in the community that that wasn't necessarily in alignment with the decision that was made by the board, and it was somebody's personal opinion, but got interpreted as the board's opinion.

Speaker 1 4:55

Right. And I think this goes back to the skill of having self-awareness. You know, board members need to realize that community members and their friends and their neighbors and their family don't separate board roles the way that we do. So when we make the comment at the grocery store, when we're at the ball game, when we type on our social media, that can often be misconstrued, not as my personal opinion, but as the official position of the school district. And again, we need to have the message discipline to know that that decision has been made by the board. Um, how do I demonstrate that this is what is in the best interest of my community? And I think aligned boards are very intentional about how and where they communicate and they redirect questions when necessary back to the appropriate people, and they continue to reiterate those board-approved messages. Um, if people continue to have questions, direct them to, depending on the issue, the principal, the teacher, the superintendent, whoever, you know, the transportation coordinator, the athletic director. Yeah. We have a specific role as a board member. And it's really important to have sort of the clarity of role. And then again, sticking with that message discipline. And sometimes we are listening to respond if that's appropriate. Sometimes we're listening to understand. Thank you so much for sharing your opinion with me. I truly hear you. Like, thank you for sharing that that with me. I don't have to provide you with an answer. Right. And sometimes we're just listening to connect. People want to be heard. Right. And so, whatever we can do to build that relationship with them, we want to hear from our community. Um, but that doesn't mean we're always going to be able to give them exactly what they want.

Speaker 2 6:50

I think that's one of the skills that I I've I've worked with school board members now for 15 years, that it it it's it's it's not a natural thing because you got onto the board because you want to help and serve. And oftentimes we feel like helping and serving means I roll up my sleeves and I jump in and try to fix or solve your issue. But the reality is, and we've talked about this many times, the the issue is going to be resolved most quickly, closest to the issue.

Speaker 1 7:15

Yes.

Speaker 2 7:16

And having a unified process message to direct them to where that is uh would go a long way for those folks. So talk to me a little bit about uh how you get to the point. Uh it sounds like your board locally does a really good job of this. What are some key steps that you take or that you've taken to ensure that that unified messaging is happening, that clarity of decision is there as you adjourn for the for the night after the board meeting?

Speaker 1 7:40

Yeah, I I think first of all, you need to make sure that does everybody understand what we've decided upon? You know, if a board member leaves the board table and the meeting with a different understanding of what just occurred or what was decided or why that decision was made in the way it was, it's going to be impossible for us to communicate um effectively and consistently. So in the meeting, taking a moment to summarize the decision, the reasoning, the next steps. That helps everybody feel confident when answering questions in the in the community. And as I said before, I think good leaders can take a look around the room and see, okay, you know, we we went through the steps, we know the decision, uh, we know our messaging, we know our next um uh steps in we know who to direct people to in case they have questions, on and on. But just because it's on paper doesn't mean everybody has it. Read the body language of the room. If anybody looks like they have a question or they want to jump in, give them the space to do that so you can leave with everybody in alignment.

Speaker 2 8:53

Yeah, so can you share uh one of an example that you've experienced over the years where the unified message, the clarity of the decision really paid some dividends down the road for your district, for your board?

Speaker 1 9:06

Yeah. Um one of one of the the great things again about my board is when we make big decisions, we want to leave the table um supporting what we decided. We, you know, we've just recently made a big technology perpet purchase. We had a lot of disagreement upon what that looked like, but we are all sharing the same message with our community now. But another story that I think is really important to share is we ran a bond issue a couple of years ago. And we decided at a as a board that this decision was so important. We were going to our community to ask them uh to you know dig into their pockets, their precious resources to continue to support our school district. And we decided that if we were going to ask people for that, uh first they needed to have a very clear understanding of what we were asking for, which is of course part of the bond you know planning process is making sure folks in your community know what they're voting on. Um, but we also decided that if we as a board could not fully agree and vote 7-0 to support this bond, to put it on the ballot, uh, we should not move forward with it because that sort of confidence that you are sharing with your community goes a long way. And so, you know, we we voted 7-0 and we had, you know, we're so lucky to be so well supported by our community that they voted to approve our bond. But that spirit is what we take with us after every vote, even if it's a 5-2-6-1-7-0. We all want to have that unified message to demonstrate our commitment to our community.

Speaker 2 10:51

Awesome. So, communicating as one voice is one of the clearest signals of an effective board. And I think that goes a long way with building trust in your community, helps them understand who do I talk to, how do I ask questions, or who do I ask questions of. Uh, just really helps the community trust and value the work that school board members do. So, Emily, this has been a great conversation. I appreciate you taking the time today to visit with us.

Speaker 11:13

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for listening to Board Leadership Fights. We hope today's conversation gave you a practical takeaway to bring back to your board table. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And visit kasb.org for more resources, professional learning, and support for Kansas School Board Leaders. Until next time, keep learning, keep leading, and keep building a stronger board.