It Works in Small Organizations, Too

Posted by Eric Phinney
On June 19, 2018
Governance Improvement, Small Organizations

Several years ago I was invited to join the board of a small not-for-profit organization. It had been sliding downhill as a going concern for a number of years and the board had just taken the drastic action of dismissing the CEO with no notice amidst allegations of fraud. The CEO responded with a wrongful dismissal […]

Ownership Linkage: The Interview Matrix

Posted by Andrew Bergen
On June 12, 2018
Ownership Linkage

Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in some large group sessions where the facilitator was able to gather a significant amount of information from each of the people involved. The method used was called an Interview Matrix. As I thought about this method of information gathering, it occurred to me […]

Board Education: One Purpose, Three Areas of Focus P.S. What? You’re Not Doing It?

Posted by Paul Zilz
On June 5, 2018
Board Development

Is your board continuously improving its capacity and ability to govern well? Your organization exists to make a real difference in the lives of those it serves. More to the point, a well-governed organization ensures 1) those benefits intended to be received by those intended to receive them are actually received, 2) the benefits received […]

Start Where You Are

Posted by Joseph Inskeep
On May 22, 2018
Board Development

Board work can be frustrating. People serve on boards to help and they hope their contributions will be meaningful. But when the board as a group is ineffective, the disappointment individual members feel is unambiguous. This is too common an occurrence and more poignant because we know that governance is no more a mystery than […]

The Challenges of the Reasonable Interpretation

Posted by Ted Hull
On May 15, 2018
Any Reasonable Interpretation

If you have any familiarity with Policy Governance®, you will have heard the term any reasonable interpretation. It is the Policy Governance principle that in my experience is the one most often misunderstood. If you are not familiar with this principle, let me briefly explain it. A Policy Governance board will develop a variety of […]

Policy Governance® for the Generations

Posted by Rose Mercier
On May 8, 2018
Board Recruitment, Policy Governance System

I coach an organization that, like many other organizations, is wondering how changing population demographics will affect them. They have been proactively trying to understand how their association will be relevant in the future to the various generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials), and Generation Z. Their Governance Committee recently spent several […]

Does Your Board Expect Efforts . . . Or Results

Posted by Richard Stringham
On May 1, 2018
Accountability, Ends, Policy Development

Often when I look at mission statements and strategic plans and other direction setting documents for organizations, I will find many effort words. Some boards are in the business of “seeking” a better community. Some want to “promote” their cause. Still others “endeavor” to make a difference. And then, there is my favourite, the Board […]

Ten Traits of Effective Board Members

Posted by Paul Zilz
On April 24, 2018
Board Recruitment, Governance Improvement

Have you ever played on a sports team, worked on a business team, or served on a board, where the people could not work together effectively to accomplish the goal? This can be a frustrating and challenging experience, and often it is because the people on the team are just not suited well or equipped […]

What’s The Plan?

Posted by Dee Incoronato
On April 17, 2018
Policy Governance System

We’ve all been asked, “What’s the plan?” At home, at work, with friends and family everyone asks about the plan. Who is making the plan and who is in charge of the plan? Plans can be short or long depending upon their purpose. If I plan to make dinner tonight, I need a place to […]

How’s Your Board’s Psychic RAM?

Posted by Jannice Moore
On April 10, 2018
Executive Limitations, Policy Development, Strategic Foresight

Leading productivity expert David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, has coined a fascinating phrase: “Psychic RAM.” He argues that as individuals, when we try to keep our “to do” lists in our heads, we are tying up valuable RAM. Consequently, we have no creative thinking space available. His solution is to use a well-defined […]

Governance Inconsistencies? Bite your tongue!

Posted by Richard Stringham
On April 3, 2018

Early in our relationship, my wife advised me that I wasn’t much fun when watching movies because I had a tendency to identify inconsistencies in the story line. If Marty travels back to the future after having made changes in the past that affect his family’s fortunes, why are they still living in the same […]

Is a Mainstream Conversation about Policy Governance® Beginning?

Posted by Rose Mercier
On March 27, 2018

In the last few months I have found myself reading widely from the Harvard Business Review. It seems to have become more “accessible” – cleaner formats, more graphics, and simpler language. I had always liked the wide range of relevant and soundly researched topics. If this sounds like an ad for HBR, it is not. […]

Are We There Yet? Developing Clarity About Results

Posted by Jannice Moore
On March 20, 2018
Ends, Monitoring

I remember several road trips when my children were young. About every ten minutes, one of them would ask, “Are we there yet?” Children ask this question because they have not developed a sense of time or distance, or they don’t have a clear picture of what the final destination is – what “there” will […]

Who’s The Real CEO?

Posted by Andrew Bergen
On March 6, 2018
Board Chair Role, Board Leadership

In the most recent edition of the Harvard Business Review, author Stanislav Shekshnia has written an article titled, “How to Be a Good Board Chair.”* He bases his findings on the results of interviews with many current and former chairs of large corporations. It’s worth the read. He makes 8 points about what makes for […]

Surprise!

Posted by Rose Mercier
On February 27, 2018

In mid-September I read an article in my local newspaper that grabbed my attention. The headline: “Surprised by 700K deficit.” Wow, I thought – a high six figure deficit is pretty large surprise for a non-profit agency. Why, I thought, was the board surprised? The focus of the story was the draft financial statement for […]

Unless the Board Approves

Posted by Ted Hull
On February 20, 2018
Clear Delegation

Recently I was meeting with a board that was just beginning to implement Policy Governance®. The board appeared to have a good grasp of the model including the principle of Executive Limitations. The board understood the idea that it would delegate authority to the CEO to use any means to accomplish the Ends except those […]

Board Education or Meddling in Operations?

Posted by Joseph Inskeep
On February 13, 2018

If a board informally hears that staff is struggling to achieve a particular Ends policy, and the board doesn’t know why, how might it proceed? Assuming no violations of Executive Limitations, isn’t the implementation of Ends policies the sole prerogative of the CEO? Can the board seek information related to these struggles without meddling in […]

Connecting the Dots: How Strategic Foresight Informs Ends

Posted by governancecoach
On February 6, 2018

The board’s job is to look at the big picture, to think strategically and to envision the future. Future thinking applied to real world situations is strategic foresight. In Policy Governance, the board’s most important job is defining Ends; in other words, what the organization is to accomplish. Ends are the benefits that are produced […]

Getting The Right Board Information

Posted by Richard Stringham
On January 30, 2018

In a previous life, I worked at a non-profit organization where I was a direct report to the Executive Director. Board meetings always presented a “crunch time” as we scrambled to prepare reports about what we had been doing in the various programs and projects that we ran. We weren’t using Policy Governance®. Indeed, we […]

Our Organization Needs a Real Working Board! Doesn’t It?

Posted by Paul Zilz
On January 23, 2018
Board Leadership, Policy Governance for Charities

A Board was reflecting on its work at the end of the year and was contemplating what it could do better in the next year. When a Board member reflected that the Board could do a better job governing rather than spending most of its time helping the Executive Director manage operations, another Board member […]

Budgets are Bad??!!

Posted by Ted Hull
On January 16, 2018
Budgets, Strategic Focus

[Note: if you are not a church, there’s still a lesson in this blog.] “A budget is the most overworked, overused, misunderstood, and inaccurate piece of fiction that a church board will ever see. It’s like a bad steak which is chewed on, gnawed on, and eventually choked down—unless it’s choked on first. Swallowing it […]

But Dad!…

Posted by Andrew Bergen
On January 9, 2018
Monitoring

One of my colleagues (let’s call him Dave) is in the (un)enviable position of parenting a teenager. This seems to always be a challenge for both parents and teens alike. Recently, Dave was mentioning to me his frustration in managing his daughter’s curfew. On a Friday night in the not too distant past, she had […]

A New Approach to Resolutions

Posted by Jannice Moore
On January 2, 2018

Many of us begin the New Year with a list of “resolutions” – a list of “what” we are going to do differently this year. Within a few months, or weeks, or even days, we have broken many of those resolutions. I wonder if the reason is that we began with the wrong question. Perhaps […]

Posted by governancecoach
On December 22, 2017

The Power of Words

Posted by Dee Incoronato
On December 19, 2017
Monitoring, Policy Development

“Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.” Pearl Strachan Hurd Words, more powerful than an atom bomb? Words are risky. We must think about our words carefully! Risk is the possibility that something bad will happen. In Policy Governance® is it the Board of Directors’ or the CEO’s role to manage […]

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