REALBoard Buzz™ - The Governance Coach

The Future Keeps Moving

Posted by Andrew Bergen
On November 13, 2019
Board Leadership, Future Focus

I’ve been on a journey the past 2 years – toward greater physical health. Those of you who know me might think there is a long road ahead! I’ve made significant progress and still have some distance to travel. I’ve always enjoyed running (not fast, but I get there!) and so have made that one […]

Meaning & Purpose in Governance

Posted by David Gray
On October 30, 2019
Board Leadership, Sustaining Policy Governance

I’ve been thinking lately about a particular feature of board performance that I see all too often. It’s a feature that has troubled me for some time now, but I think I’m beginning to understand why it happens and how to avoid it. Governance is a system. One of the most famous definitions of governance is found in what is commonly called […]

The Blame Game

Posted by Rose Mercier
On October 23, 2019
Accountability, Any Reasonable Interpretation, Monitoring

I read a series of reports in my local paper chronicling the hand-wringing of the board of a local municipal agency about what it could do about credit card expenses that had been submitted by a previous CEO – two years since departed. The board was not happy about what it had discovered. The local exotic dancing venue seemed to have been a favourite venue for entertaining prospective businesses or partners…One can perhaps understand the board’s discomfort. The […]

Recruiting Better Board Members

Posted by Richard Stringham
On October 16, 2019
Board Recruitment

Don’t be Satisfied with Just “Warm Bodies” for Board Positions On behalf of your organization’s ownership, your board determines what will demonstrate success for the organization. Furthermore, the “buck” truly stops at the board as there is no higher authority in the organization. Therefore, the board must do all it can to ensure that it has the people best suited for the job. Years ago, I learned that […]

Alice in Policy Wonderland

Posted by Jannice Moore
On October 9, 2019
Policy Development

Crafting well-designed policies is not easy. Boards could, however, take some lessons from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The White Rabbit put on his spectacles: “where shall I begin, please your Majesty?” he asked. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”(Chapter 12) The nested structure of […]

The Board and Tone at the Top

Posted by Ted Hull
On October 2, 2019
Board Role, Executive Limitations

Tone at the top is about an ethical culture where all employees feel responsible for doing the right thing. Since the board is at the top of the organization, what’s the board’s role in ensuring ethical culture? One of the best definitions of culture I’ve heard is it’s just the way we do it.  Every organization […]

Does Your Board Know How Well (or Not) It is Performing?

Posted by Paul Zilz
On September 25, 2019
Board Self-Evaluation

In the process of governing, boards should invest time in properly setting, evaluating, and ensuring achievement of the strategic, future-focused benefits the organization is supposed to produce for targeted recipients at a specified worth (Ends, for shorthand). Instead, boards are often distracted by operational incidental information This distraction not only hinders the organization from achieving […]

Does Your Board Have a Growth or a Fixed Mindset?

Posted by Andrew Bergen
On September 18, 2019
Board Leadership, Executive Limitations, Risk

I’ve been exploring the concept of “Growth vs. Fixed Mindset” over the past couple of months. A recent podcast* on the subject addressed this mindset partly in relation to the concept of risk. The podcast explained that a key factor in many areas of organizational health (including employee engagement, organizational growth, success of new ideas, etc.) was the […]

Policy Governance®: A Values-Based Model

Posted by David Gray
On September 11, 2019
Policy Governance System, Values

If you’ve had anything to do with the team here at The Governance Coach™, you’ll know that we are big fans of the Policy Governance® system first developed by John Carver back in the 1970s. And for good reason: over a period of 25 years, we’ve helped more than 500 boards work with the system, […]

External Monitoring Reports – When, How & Why?

Posted by Rose Mercier
On September 4, 2019
Monitoring

If you are buying a house or a car from the current owner, you want to know that the house or car is safe and operational as stated. After all, you don’t want to move in and discover a flooded basement at the end of the first rainy day, or have the car break down […]

All For One and One For All

Posted by Dee Incoronato
On August 28, 2019
One Voice

Feeling confident about your role as a board member and your ability to make a difference may depend upon how board members function as a team. The board of directors is the group of people entrusted with and accountable for the leadership and governance of an organization. In the best of circumstances, board members work […]

Policy Governance® – One Size Fits All?

Posted by Rose Mercier
On August 21, 2019
Policy Governance System

Should your Board be Governing for Disruption?

Posted by Richard Stringham
On August 14, 2019
Ends, Executive Limitations, Strategic Focus, Strategic Leadership

If you observe boards over time, you start to see some interesting patterns. A couple of decades ago, boards of non-profits were prone to direct their CEOs to enter into partnerships. Closer examination would reveal that it wasn’t just boards that were pushing partnerships; much was driven by funding agencies, particularly government funding agencies. From […]

The Value of a Robust System Regarding Risk

Posted by Jannice Moore
On August 7, 2019
Executive Limitations, Policy Governance System, Risk

A recent Governance Briefing from Davis Polk* details an interesting decision from the Delaware Supreme Court on the importance of boards exercising oversight of risk. The case revolved around a listeria outbreak at an ice cream production facility, which resulted in devastating losses, including several deaths. To quote from the article, “the case tells us […]

Eat One Hot Dog Faster

Posted by Andrew Bergen
On July 31, 2019
Board Leadership, Ends

One a recent episode of the Podcast* “Freakanomics Radio”, the host was interviewing world famous food eating champion Takeru Kobayashi. He is most well-known for taking on the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest at the age of 23 and walking away the winner. Not only did he win – but he doubled the record […]

Three Types of Questions Your Board Should Ask Owners

Posted by Paul Zilz
On July 24, 2019
Owners and Ownership

I once served on a non-profit board comprised of passionate board members focused on improving the lives of those residing in our community. In an effort to shift the board’s focus from internal operational issues, I suggested the board seek input from members of our community about what community needs they saw that were not […]

Leading Through Values

Posted by Joseph Inskeep
On July 17, 2019
Board Leadership, Values

In the life of organizations, it really does matter whether leaders stay focused on the things that actually matter. For governing boards, what matters most is giving voice to the core values and principles that define organizational purpose, ethics and prudence. It is all too easy for a board to allow inertia to carry its […]

The Danger of an Executive Committee

Posted by Ted Hull
On July 10, 2019
Board Role, Committees

It’s been around since time immemorial and every board has one. It’s the executive committee. This sacrosanct group is usually made up of the officers of the board; typically the chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer. Its daunting mandate can include making decisions for the board in the event of an emergency, and doing the business […]

Effective Board Meetings

Posted by Dee Incoronato
On July 2, 2019
Board Agendas, Board Meetings

We live in a society of meetings. In the United States alone, there are more than 11 million meetings a day! If you are a board of directors, you are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of your organization. Most boards are mandated to meet at least once a year and many meet much […]

Should the Board Approve CEO Interpretations in Policy Governance®?

Posted by Jannice Moore
On June 25, 2019
Any Reasonable Interpretation, Monitoring

I’m often asked what the board should or should not “approve” in Policy Governance. This is an area that sometimes results in confusion because it requires a shift in mindset from traditional governance practices. Traditionally governed boards “approve” (or adopt, or accept) all manner of operational decisions. I am going to limit this blog to […]

Owner vs Customer

Posted by David Gray
On June 20, 2019
Owners and Ownership

It is sometimes said that owner-accountability is the holy grail of governance. Boards are encouraged to understand who their owners are, to differentiate between legal owners and moral owners, to connect meaningfully with those owners in order to understand their values and aspirations, to translate those values and aspirations (ultimately) into organizational performance, and to […]

Revolving Door Boards

Posted by Richard Stringham
On June 11, 2019
Board Meetings, Board Recruitment, Governance Improvement

Does your board suffer from revolving door directors’ attendance? In other words, some board members attend board meetings on an erratic basis: a meeting here and another there. Even if your board enables distance connection, these board members have spotty in and out attendance. Of course, who can blame them? These are busy people who […]

How a Board can Embrace Diversity

Posted by Rose Mercier
On May 28, 2019
Board Development, Values

It would be hard not to notice the proliferation of media stories, academic and industry research, anecdotal evidence, and statistics about the diversity – or lack thereof – on boards of directors. Corporate boards, in particular, have been under pressure from institutional investors, governments and regulators to address gender diversity, and there are many excellent […]

The Importance of Vocabulary

Posted by Eric Phinney
On May 21, 2019
Board Development

In the last year, my wife and I have done two things that involved using a new vocabulary. The first was spending 8 months on our sailboat traveling from Maine to Miami and then to the Bahamas and back. For life on a sailboat to be safe, enjoyable and successful, you need to add a good […]

Does Your Board Need an Information Diet?

Posted by Jannice Moore
On May 14, 2019
Board Agendas, Information for the board

Have you ever received the agenda package for your board meeting and thought “Oh, no – do I really have to wade through all of this information?” If so, you’re not alone. I think many board members, on receiving the package, feel like they are swimming upstream in a river of paper (or electronic documents). […]

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