At What Worth Archives - The Governance Coach

Efficiency Lessons for Boards Using Policy Governance®

Posted by Richard Stringham
On June 3, 2021
At What Worth, Ends

In an interview on the CBC Radio program SPARK , Roger Martin, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, contends that businesses’ obsession with efficiency over the past two centuries has gone too far. Although efficiency has been and will continue to be an important part of the success of businesses and […]

Is Your Board Examining the Right Costs?

Posted by Richard Stringham
On November 19, 2020
At What Worth, Values

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 to the change, health care providers were paid for each medical procedure […]

The “At What Cost” Question

Posted by Ted Hull
On November 13, 2018
At What Worth, Ends, Opportunity Costs

When boards – and specifically not for profit boards, are developing their Ends, they will determine who the beneficiaries are and what benefits will result for these beneficiaries. The third part of this process is determining whether or not it’s worth the cost of producing those results for those people. Underlying that is the question […]

Motor Home or Winter Vacation: Opportunity Cost

Posted by Ted Hull
On August 15, 2017
At What Worth, Ends, Opportunity Costs

When a board develops its ends as it implements the Policy Governance® model, it considers three components. These components include: (1) how will people be better off, (2) which people will be better off and (3) what is it worth to produce these results. One of the challenges that the boards of not-for profits face […]

Making the Worth in Ends Policies Worthwhile

Posted by Richard Stringham
On May 2, 2017
At What Worth, Ends

Many of us working with Policy Governance have long advocated that boards should specify meaningful results in Ends policies rather than getting hung up on how to measure the results. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was how significant precise statements of meaningful results are when determining what those same results are worth. That is, until […]

Imagine if…

Posted by Rose Mercier
On April 4, 2017
Accountability, At What Worth, Ends

News articles about public agencies can make for fascinating reading, particularly when they disappoint almost everyone who seems to have a stake in the organization’s performance, or if they have achieved status as a lead story. More often than not, it’s about lack of performance. In my home town, there is an agency created by […]