Golf is an interesting sport. You head out to play your first round. You’re confident you’ll know what to do once you’ve teed up. After all you’ve been watching PGA and LPGA tournaments for a while. You’ve watched a few You-Tube videos to learn which clubs you need and when to use them.
Colleagues and friends have given you pointers. You think, it can’t be that hard. Set the ball on the tee, plant your feet, and swing the club. Watch the ball arc its way towards the green. Sink the putt.
And then reality strikes. A few holes of too many shots over par and you realize golf requires skills you don’t yet have. You could continue playing golf as a duffer or – you could improve your skills.
So, you hire a golf pro who teaches you to drive, chip, and putt. You learn what to do when your ball lands in the rough, or the sand. You learn to read the greens. You practice. And practice. And practice. With each round you play, your game improves.
Your board has implemented Policy Governance. It has developed its policies. And now it’s time to assess the first monitoring report you’ve received. You think…it can’t be that hard.
You open the meeting documents and there you find the CEO’s monitoring report for Treatment of Staff. You are reasonably confident you know what to do. Read the CEO’s interpretation. Determine if it’s reasonable. Seems straightforward. You have guidelines of what to look for.
Has the CEO identified the measures for determining compliance? (Wait, can there be more than one measure?) Is there a rationale for each of those measures? Does the interpretation identify the standard of the measure to be achieved? You read through the interpretation. You think it looks okay.
On to assessing the evidence. You review the checklist of what you should look for. You read the evidence section of the report. Does it state the source of the data? Does it identify when the data was collected? Is evidence provided for each measure? You’ve completed your assessment of the report. You feel ready for the board meeting.
At the board’s meeting, there is a lot of discussion about the monitoring report! Some board members think it looks good for a first effort. Others think the measures aren’t appropriate. A couple of board members don’t think the rationale for the measure is “defensible”. There are questions about whether the CEO should collect the data. One board member thinks there is a better way to demonstrate compliance.
The Chair suggests that the board recognize that this is the board’s first round of golf…oops, I mean monitoring. The Chair suggests the board accept this report. It’s obvious the board needs to improve its skills in assessing monitoring reports.
The Chair suggests the board call their governance coach. The idea is popular. It’s especially backed by the golfers on the board. They know that some skills don’t come naturally.
Learning to assess a monitoring report is a lot like learning to golf. The skills needed are unique to the monitoring process. Monitoring does not lead to tournament wins, prize money or clubhouse bragging rights. But it is an essential skill.
And like golf, monitoring is a skill that can be improved regardless of the board’s experience. Golf pros continue to seek improvement – to tweak their strokes, to reinforce fundamentals they might have been ignoring. Failure to do so means missed cuts and lower paydays. A wise board should copy the golf pro’s continuous pursuit of skill improvement.
Your board has a variety of ways to refresh and enhance its monitoring skills.
Our online courses:
Our team of experienced governance coaches: with their assistance, your board can take its monitoring to the next level.