Governance Coach On-Line

The Governance Coach On-Line provides you with the opportunity for interactive options available to subscribers.

A new resource to help your board sustain its use of Policy Governance

Do you have one or more new board members who were appointed or elected since the last time your board had a Policy Governance refresher? While a face-to-face orientation session is still the most efective way to help new board members thoroughly understand Policy Governance, we realize that sometimes the "timing fates" conspire to make it very difficult to provide for new board members to attend a session early enough in their tenure.

REALBoard On-Line Learning™ was designed specifically to fill this gap. It allows your new members to obtain the basics right away. The introduction can then be more thoroughly fleshed out the next time you schedule an orientation or refresher session. As you know, if a new board member does not understand how you are governing, it can prove frustrating to everyone, and more importantly, it can cause the board to lose momentum.

Convenient modular format

REALBoard On-Line Learning consists of a series of modules which cover all of the principles of Policy Governance. Each module takes only 15-20 minutes to complete. Here are the topics:

Boards and Owners -– who are the owners? Where does the board fit? Why is it important to “connect” with owners?
Policy Governance as a System – rather than isolated best practices, Policy Governance is a complete system.
Ends – what are Ends? Why is it important to focus on them?
Policy Sizes and Interpretation – are all policies the same? Why or why not? What happens when the board has finished writing a policy?
Board Holism and Delegation – how does the board “speak” with authority? What is needed for effective delegation?
Empowerment through Limitations – how can the board empower management by using boundaries?
Monitoring - a systematic approach to ensuring that what is delegated actually gets done.
Board Means Policies – how does the board govern itself?
Board Self-Evaluation and Improvement – ways to evaluate the board’s own performance and continually improve.

Interactive Reinforcement of Learning

Interactive questions in each module to help learners assess whether they have grasped the concepts.
Many questions require application of the principles.
Explanations of why an answer is correct or incorrect.
Learners can go back to areas they did not understand.

Appeal to Differing Learning Styles

Graphics and diagrams for visual learners.
Brief audio clips to help audio learners further enhance their learning.
Hyperlinks between concepts and modules and additional references to keep kinetic learners engaged.

Timely and Always Available

Web-based so board members can access the material any time, at their convenience.
Useful for “refreshers” if a board member wishes to brush up on a particular principle.
Useful for boards to introduce prospective members to the model.
Accessible to individual board members or as an annual “board subscription.”

What’s the cost?

There are two convenient options.

A board subscription. This allows all board members and whatever administrative staff you wish to access the modules. All we need is current email addresses to allow us to set up individual passwords. An annual board subscription is $1500.
An individual subscription. This permits one person access to the modules for a year. An individual subscription is $350.

How does it work?

Our interactive Board Chair Forum and Administrative Support Forum provide a secure virtual meeting place with others who have similar responsibilities. Share your challenges and your solutions as you network with your peers. A new forum for boards of Credit Unions using Policy Governance is now available.

Please email us for a user name and password to access the forums.

Please email us with your ideas for additional forums that you would find helpful.