But what happens all too often after that is: nothing! The policies are rarely if ever discussed, and the Board, as a consequence, goes bad to old habits.
What a shame. All that work and effort for what?
Here's what needs to happen. If the organization has, let's say, thirty (30) policies in place and meets six (6) times each year, five (5) of those policies should be on each Board agenda. What to discuss? With each policy, the Board should ask itself these questions:
- Does the policy still satisfy our needs?
- With regard to policies that place limitations on the authority of the Chief Staff Officer, are we receiving adequate information that allows us to satisfy ourselves that the policy is indeed being complied with?
- Is the policy clear to everyone to whom it applies (all Board members and the Chief Staff Officer)?
Policy discussion at each Board meeting reinforces that the Board governs through its policy-making function - this is a critical step in the orientation of new Board members. They must be given adequate opportunity to learn how a Board governs, and they must be afforded opportunity to question the intent and or appropriateness of every policy that exists.
I also find it odd that Board Chairs rarely re-focus the Board back to discussion about policies. When Board members wade into operational discussion (and this, as we all know, happens frequently) the Chair needs to bring discussion back to existing Board policy. The Chair needs to ask the Board member(s) what their real concerns are, and bring them back to discussing the Board policy that governs that particular issue. The question to the Board member needs to be, "What amendment would you propose to the existing policy to satisfy your concern, or what new policy needs to be established"?
Governing in this manner way can eliminate Board discussion on the same or a similar matter year after year - establish policy that governs those circumstances, and you won't have to have the same discussion again. Then you can focus most of your time on your other important task: focusing on the future.
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Hi Sandi,
ReplyDeleteGreat article - as always. For clarification since I plan to send this to my board - are you referring to governance policies or operational policies?
My Board has just approved a new volunteer-led, staff managed governance model. In our model the Board is responsible for governance policies and I for operational policies - however, there is a caveat that the Board will identify some operational policies as having significant risk to the organization and will keep those under the Board's purview. These policies have not yet been identified but there is talk that this would apply to policies related to Employment Standards, etc.
What are your thoughts on this?
Lori:
ReplyDeleteWhere the line is drawn between governance policies and operational policies varies by organization. I take the view that operational policies start where Board policies leave off. For example, on the HR front, the Board might establish policy compelling the Chief Staff Officer to comply with all HR related legislation (i.e. employment standards), to provide a safe workplace, to pay staff on a salary scale that is on par with similar jobs in similar organizations in the same geographic area, to ensure documented performance evaluations are carried out each year for all staff, etc. Detail beyond that would be operational policy.
For example, if you wanted to set out criteria that would be utilized to determine eligibility for telecommuting for staff, that would be an operational policy.
Hope that clarifies rather than adds to the confusion!