While members of a college's board of trustees expect the president to provide them with accurate and timely information, individual trustees also have a responsibility to help the president do an effective job. The board should understand that the president is the one college administrator with an overview of the enterprise as a whole; his/her advice, therefore, should be carefully considered in board matters such as institutional finance, facilities planning, public relations, establishing institutional goals, assessing institutional performance, preserving the institution's autonomy, and settling internal disputes. In addition, board members can take several steps to insure a harmonious board-president relationship, including: (1) develop policies that are workable; (2) realize that the president must make reasonable decisions that may not be universally acceptable; (3) keep politics out of board activities; (4) carefully study board meeting agendas beforehand; (5) refer operational questions to the president; (6) expect communications with college personnel to be channeled through the president; and (7) remain aware of community attitudes toward the college. While the board has responsibility for setting institutional policy, trustees should leave to the president the responsibility for establishing rules and procedures for the implementation of that policy. (JP)