Policy Governance®
"Governance is more than management writ large" - John Carver
There is Hope for Boards A leader in Seattle said, "this Carver model for boards puts awful responsibility on me as CEO! And I love it." He is right! But it also puts great responsibility upon the board. However, the spheres are totally different. The board's role is Policy Governance®; the staff's role is management. Until these two areas of work are clearly differentiated there will be paralyzing confusion and conflict.
  There is probably more information available concerning boards than any single organization subject. The problem is that almost all the literature deals with the traditional model for board work. To the best of my knowledge, only John Carver has devised a totally new model for board work in not-for-profit organizations.
  Carver limits the work of boards to only four categories:
 
  1. Ends
  2. Executive Limitations
  3. Board/Staff Relationships
  4. Board Process
  These areas and only these areas comprise Policy Governance®. Everything else is management and thus belongs to the staff. Almost all board problems can be traced to the confusion of governance with management.
  If the solution to so many of our board/staff difficulties is so obvious, then why are so many organizations so slow to adopt the policy governance model? The answer is tradition.
  The Robert's Rules of Order parliamentary model has been with us for over 100 years. (Henry Martyn Robert was called on to preside at a meeting in 1860 while he was a cadet at West Point. Because he did not know how to conduct a meeting and did so poorly, he determined to put in writing what he subsequently learned. In essence, his writings were the adaptation of the rules of Congress to meet the needs of all types of organizations.)
  A Baptist pastor in Texas defended the continued use of Robert's model because Robert was a Baptist! I don't think that's reason enough. We need a whole new model for board work. Your board may well be made up of good people with good intentions and noble commitment to the organization. However, if the model for their work is flawed, their good qualities may well be nullified.
  Likewise, your CEO and other staff may be good people who are expected to rise above the flaws of traditional board/staff structures. We all can remember instances of good staff people, especially CEOs, who have been destroyed by an ancient model that doesn't work.
  There is hope for your board! While it certainly is not a panacea, it surely is the best hope I have come upon for the quagmire in which many boards are snared.
  Peter Drucker says, "All nonprofit boards have one thing in common. They do not work." He is right, but there is hope.
  The starting point for realizing this hope is Policy Governance® training.
  The entire board and CEO should attend the presentation.
  We achieve the best results when we are able to present the Policy Governance® model and then assist the board in actually creating the first few pages of the manual. This is accomplished at maximum levels with two successive evenings or a Friday night and Saturday morning sessions. However, we often do a single evening presentation.
  Leadership Resource Group will provide the lecturer and the study materials. You provide the meeting room and strong coffee! We charge a flat fee that includes all our expenses.
Want to Know More? Phone: 800.743.3933
Email: info@olanhendrix.com