The Communist Party of China’s Central Committee is considering eliminating term limits so that China’s leader Xi Jinping is able to serve beyond the customary 2 terms of 5 years. Term limits are always a hot topic in governance discussions. Canada and the United States, have differing opinions on their leaders and term limits. The US has an 8 year limit for their Presidents and Canada has no term limits for their Prime Ministers.
The case for term limits is that organizations need new directors to allow for new ideas to be considered and to reduce the threat of self-review on board decisions. The case against term limits is why would you lose a good board member just because their term is up?
Some organizations struggle to attract board members, so losing any of them is a problem. Without term limits it is difficult to renew a board. Best practices are suggesting one year terms so that a weak board member can leave the board without undue delay or drama and the overall board term limit would be 9 years. Each organization will find their way to what works best for them.
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