I recently attended a board meeting where several board members were becoming frustrated with the Rules of Order written in their policies. One person commented, “This is why I don’t like Policy Governance®; because it forces us to run our meetings this way.” This perspective is a common, and unfortunate, misperception about Policy Governance – namely that Policy Governance tells boards what their rules should be. But, in reality, the system doesn’t dictate rules of order for board meetings. Let’s unpack that a little bit.
18 months ago I purchased a condo. When I was condo hunting, I had a list of non-negotiables, one of which was that the condo must have a walkthrough closet. So, I indeed now have a wonderful closet filled with drawers, shelves, two tiered hanging system; the whole nine yards. What a wonderful organizing system for my personal belongings!
Policy Governance is a bit like a well structured closet. Just as a closet provides an organizing system for possessions that are important to me, Policy Governance provides an organizing system for the board’s values. Just because I have a well constructed closet, it does not mean that the drawer where I keep my socks is pre-determined. I can keep my socks in any drawer – or no drawer – or choose not to even keep socks at all!
During the past 18 months of living here, I found myself growing frustrated with how my clothing organization was working for me. I could either: a) blame the closet construction for that problem (which would be irrational) or b) I could determine that the way I was utilizing the closet wasn’t as effective as it could be. I chose the latter; pulled everything out of the closet and put everything back in a different order. And now I feel much better.
The board that was frustrated with the rules of order for meetings doesn’t have a problem with their closet…oops, I mean governance system. The system works just fine. They need to put their socks in a different drawer. Or, in this case, write more clearly what their values about how meetings are run into the system that Policy Governance provides.
There is tremendous flexibility in the system of Policy Governance. As long as the 10 principles of the system remain intact, boards can choose what values they wish to write in their policies. If something isn’t working for you, consider how you might rewrite or re-organize your policies to make your board as efficient and effective as it can be.
Ever wonder how to answer the objections to Policy Governance that you hear – or maybe have. If so, you’ll want to sign up for our next open webinar on November 20th – “Myths and Misconceptions”.
Even better – help us plan which of those objections we talk about. Take our two minute survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P7X3FHG
To register for this free webinar, click here.