REALBoard Buzz™
Is Your Board Examining the Right Costs?
In a recent episode of NPR’s Hidden Brain podcast, Vivian Lee, the author of: “The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone,” describes the results of a substantive change that took place in Utah’s Medicaid program. Prior...
How a Board can Embrace Diversity
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...
If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going…
One of my favorite pieces of literature is Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. At one point in the story, Alice has an exchange with the Cheshire Cat that goes like this: Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”Cheshire Cat: “That...
Monitoring Financial Condition
It’s not unusual for boards which have not previously worked with the Policy Governance® model to respond very positively when it is explained to them and to express enthusiasm for implementing the model. However, it’s also not unusual for boards new to the model to...
Taking Care of What’s Important
In the early years of my consulting career, I was frequently involved with personal and professional leadership development projects. A frequent reference in those years was Steven Covey and his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People[1]. One of Covey’s many...
Shift Happens
Indulge me in a little nostalgia. Before COVID, I spent a lot of time in airplanes. I had the flight attendant announcements memorized: “In preparation for landing, please fasten your seatbelts, ensure your seat backs and table trays are in the...
Strategic Importance of Effective Board Education
The Jewish Torah tells a compelling story of a Middle Eastern shepherd encountering a bush that burns but is not consumed. The shepherd, known by the name of Moses, was curious and approached the bush only to be called in a new...
Make a Real Strategic Difference: Stop Managing and Start Governing!
I recently observed a board meeting where the board discussed whether or not to renew a contract with one of the organization’s vendors. Clearly, a majority of board members and the Executive Director were frustrated by a perceived lack of responsiveness from this...
The Board’s Policy Manual – An Essential Tool
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the board’s essential tool in Policy Governance® is its policy manual. After all, it is “Policy” Governance. However, you might be surprised to learn that a board can control and direct...
Monitoring as Measurement
I’ve had occasion in recent times to observe a number of boards undertaking monitoring activities. A couple of takeaways have stuck in my mind as a result of these experiences, one of which I’ll describe below and the other I’ll describe in a subsequent blog....