Policy Governance Blog | Brown Dog Consulting

Skills Needed for Effective Board Leadership

Susan Mogensen

November 23, 2021

Learn more by taking the Board EXCELerator – Candidate Edition.

Tick, Tock! Time to Make Policy Governance® Easier Already

Susan Mogensen

November 17, 2021

Published in Board Leadership, vol. 178 – November-December 2021. Click here to subscribe to Board Leadership.

Board governance is not easy, nor should it be, when you consider the full scope and depth of accountability that boards have.

Boards navigating their way through the early stages of Policy Governance adoption might feel especially challenged, particularly as they move from a state of unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence.

New terms like “legal and/or moral ownership,” “any reasonable interpretation,” “Executive Limitations,” and “Ends,” poke and prod at board members’ brains, demanding precision in usage.

Students of Policy Governance are also reminded again and again how all the principles used together comprise a system, and that “using parts of a system can result in inadequate or even undesirable performance. It is rather like removing a few components from a watch, yet expecting it still to keep accurate time.”¹

As brilliant as the “watch analogy” is, some people new to Policy Governance wonder if the whole system concept is a bit too much to ask, or shrug their shoulders and take the extreme view that unless all 10 principles are perfectly applied all of the time, there is really no point in trying.

Those who have been applying Policy Governance principles for many years often make governance much more difficult than it needs to be by creating an accumulation of increasingly complicated layers of policies, practices, and procedures that might have been useful at one time, but no longer serve any meaningful purpose.

It’s understandable how this happens, as each newly comprised board seeks to elaborate and to improve upon the work of the preceding boards, adding some detail here, a process there, and then perhaps throwing in a spreadsheet and a few forms for good measure.

It’s this documentation and procedural build-up over many years that some people then equate to or confuse with Policy Governance, when the real requirements of Policy Governance are relatively simple.

As great as the challenge in governing that Policy Governance boards experience, boards using “traditional” governance approaches arguably have an even more difficult job. Spare some empathy for the board members who don’t know who they serve, what success looks like, how to express values as policy, or how to delegate. Right this minute, people are suffering through recurring conversations going nowhere, lengthy opinions on operational minutiae, committee reports that could have been circulated by email, arguments that have more to do with ego than the best interests of the organization, and on it goes. Imagine having no focus, no principles, no system at all.

Now, however, is no time to shrink from the challenge of effective governance. Boards, especially duly constituted public boards, are literally under attack. At school board meetings, for example, elected board members have come under vicious verbal and even physical assault from activists over mask and vaccine mandates, as well as other issues of the day.

Good governance is not an impenetrable shield against externally driven illegal, boorish, or nefarious acts, but it very well might help boards keep their hands steady on the wheel as they make their way through rough and stormy waters.

When times are tough enough already, board governance should not be made any more complicated or difficult than it already is. Board members need to be engaged and effective; not burnt out or running for the hills. With increasing threats to democracy, the need for wise and skillful board members to hold steady the wheels of public, private, and nonprofit institutions is greater now than ever before.

The good news for Policy Governance boards is that there are many ways they can streamline their processes while still remaining faithful to the principles. As a principle-based rather than a rules-based system, Policy Governance allows much more flexibility, scalability, and creativity than it is given credit for.

Let’s be clear: Policy Governance is not easy, but it can be a lot easier than people think. In our work with clients, we’ve seen two keys in accelerating results and sustaining momentum:

Exhale.
Do one thing.

By advising boards to exhale, we mean the necessity to let go of old processes, routines, behaviors, and even people who no longer contribute to the objective of “translating the wishes of owners into organizational performance.”² Before boards can truly absorb and develop new habits, and take their performance to the next level (inhale), there are usually many activities they need to stop (exhale).

One of the biggest time-saving practices boards should stop is maintaining operationally focused committees as if they report to the board and not to the CEO. Certainly individual board members are free to volunteer to serve on operational committees (and the CEO or staff are free to reject their offer to volunteer), but continuing to pretend that these committees are board committees is no longer necessary within the framework established by the board’s new policy manual. If board members are concerned that relinquishing an operational committee will deprive the board of information it needs, then there are other ways of assuring the board that it will receive that information, without muddying the line of authority and accountability between board and CEO.

The board meeting agenda can also present a treasure trove of opportunities to exhale old practices so that new and engaging conversations can take their place. The presentation of reports is a common time-consuming element in traditional board meeting agendas, and it’s something we’re betting most people wouldn’t miss if it were eliminated or scaled back significantly.

Boards using Policy Governance will need to assess monitoring reports, and receive other reports related to the board’s governance function. But the presentation of operational information that does not trigger a decision by the board can be circulated at any time and need not be placed on a board meeting agenda.

Another practice boards can “exhale” while retaining Policy Governance principles is having a schedule or method for reviewing (as distinct from monitoring compliance with) all policies once per year or so. While reviewing Ends policies once per year is recommended, all other policies can be reviewed on an as needed basis, or certainly less frequently than once per year. The board can and should change policy language whenever it needs to; whether a regular routine similar to the monitoring schedule is desirable for doing so is completely up to the individual board.

We’ve found that boards can also save time in how they evaluate their own performance, i.e., their compliance with Governance Process and Board-Management Delegation policies. Ideally, whichever evaluation method a board uses will compare people’s actions with the criteria set out in policy, and give the board an increasing ability to align its behaviors with stated expectations.

Some boards, however, can get just a little bit too fancy with this self-evaluation process, creating much more paperwork, metrics, surveys, forms and the like than are really needed. If these kinds of processes are working ⏤ great! If not, boards can achieve similar results by scaling all the way back to a focused conversation during a board meeting, and noting the outcome(s) of the conversation in the minutes.

Lastly, it might be necessary to “exhale” certain board members or people who occupy board-appointed officer positions. This option is not always possible, and usually somewhat unpleasant, but if a board member or CEO is resisting the use of Policy Governance principles or accomplishment of the board policies themselves, they can be reminded that other options to contribute to the organization might be available. Excellence in governance requires both good people and good process; if lack of progress can be attributed to, for example, a Chief Governance Officer who has no will to fulfill his/her role, a Board Secretary who doesn’t attend meetings, or a Chief Executive Officer who doesn’t accomplish the Ends, then perhaps a change is in order.

The second key we promote to boards right now is to do one thing. It’s a common human desire to want perfection, to create comprehensive plans, and to get everything done all at once. In the early stages of adopting Policy Governance, some boards have a tendency to freeze, not knowing where to start, and wanting to do everything perfectly. The answer is simple: take one step. And when that’s done, take another.

If the challenge is getting started on ownership linkage, one simple step could be:

brainstorm three questions the board will ask its owners;
post a message to owners from the board on the website;
schedule one focus group session (in person or online) to take place during the year;
arrange to meet with another board that has many of the same owners;
set aside time on a board meeting agenda to discuss all owner input received over the past year.

If the challenge is producing more engaging board meetings, one simple step could be:

devote one board meeting to having a “What If” session³;
re-format board meeting agendas to focus on (1) ownership linkage,(2) board education, (3) policy decisions, (4) monitoring;
ask each board member to facilitate a board education topic of their choosing over the next year or two;
invite a facilitator to guide the board through a difficult or controversial issue;
create a “board meeting report card” for use by owners who view or attend board meetings.

In the best of times, governance is a skill that requires un-learning and re-learning, a commitment to serve, a willingness to listen, and a great deal of emotional intelligence. When times are difficult, and the ability of boards to provide wise, steady leadership is under threat, the need for speed in applying good governance principles rises in importance. By focusing on the essentials, and by executing one simple step at a time, boards will have a better chance of weathering the storm.

¹Carver’s Policy Governance® Model in Nonprofit Organizations by John Carver and Miriam Carver, https://www.carvergovernance.com/pg-np.htm. This article was originally published as “Le modèle Policy Governance et les organismes sans but lucratif” in the Canadian journal Gouvernance – revue internationale, Vol. 2, nos. 1, Winter 2001, 30-48.

²John Carver, “Rethinking Governance Research,” John Carver on Board Leadership: Selected Writings From the Creator of the World’s Most Provocative and Systematic Governance Model (Jossey-Bass, 2002) 31.

³John Carver, “Is Your Board in a Rut? Shake Up Your Routine!,” Ibid., 380.

Featured

Want an Alternative to PG? Try the S.A.D. Governance Model

Susan Mogensen

June 14, 2021

The S.A.D. Governance Model has three rules:

SELF-INTEREST: Don’t be accountable to anyone. When you join a board or governing body of any type, make it clear that you are there purely for your own interest, and not to be accountable to anyone else, especially not to legal/moral owners, citizens, members, shareholders, etc.
AVOID ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES: While role clarity might work for sports teams, nobody is paying you $10 million/year to be a board member (probably), and so there is no need to “stay in your lane” or be clear about who does what. Your contribution happens by doing whatever you like. (See rule #1).
DELETE ALL POLICIES: For the S.A.D. Governance Model to work, it’s critical to delete all policies and to avoid writing anything down. As soon as a policy is written down, someone will probably expect something to get done, or want to check for “compliance.” (See also rules #1 and #2).

Seriously, though, we have always found that one thing guaranteed to be more challenging than good governance is bad governance. If you are witnessing bad (or S.A.D.) governance in action, and want the benefits of Policy Governance, set up a call with us today.

How to Assess the CEO’s Ends and Executive Limitations Monitoring Reports

Susan Mogensen

June 3, 2021

How to Create an Ends Monitoring Report

Susan Mogensen

May 28, 2021

Ten Steps in Strategic Planning, Policy Governance-style

Susan Mogensen

March 23, 2021

For more detail on these steps, get a free copy of our Quick Guide to Strategic Planning, Policy Governance-style, and contact us about our online board education program, the Board EXCELerator.

Top Five Reasons We Use Policy Governance Principles

Susan Mogensen

March 4, 2021

If your board is using Policy Governance principles, use this short video to explain to others the “why” of Policy Governance.

Both this video and this set of Key Messages for Policy Governance Boards are designed to help your board communicate with the ownership and attract new people to your board and organization.

To learn more about what Policy Governance is and how it works, take the Board EXCELerator, our online board education program.

Key Messages for Policy Governance Boards

Susan Mogensen

February 11, 2021

Does your board struggle with communicating effectively as a group? We can help with that. Check out this Key Messages document.

Your board is in the communications business. To effectively lead organizations, boards have to listen to the people they serve. They need to know what questions to ask, and how to reach people willing to answer these questions.

Let’s Avoid a Failure to Communicate

While being active listeners is a big part of the board’s job, the other part is being able to communicate back to the people to whom the board is accountable. This is exclusively a board function, and cannot be delegated to anyone else.

What makes this function so challenging is that each board is a group authority comprised of individuals who have their own ideas, perspectives, and ways of describing things.

We know that diversity of opinion prior to making decisions is valuable and necessary. After decisions have been made, however, most boards want to be able to clearly explain their decisions without sounding muddled, divided, or ineffective.

That’s where having key messages comes in handy, especially if more than one director will be speaking publicly in their capacity as a board member.

Policy … What?

Communicating about the board’s decision to use Policy Governance (a.k.a., “the Carver model,”) is especially challenging. First, board members need a common understanding of what Policy Governance is, is not, and how it works.

That, however, is usually not enough, since boards cannot expect key stakeholders or members of the public to be equally well-versed about what Policy Governance is. If you try to describe Policy Governance using Policy Governance terminology, you risk losing and confusing people, when the real goal is engaging and attracting people.

How to express the “Why” of Policy Governance

To help boards overcome these challenges, we offer a set of Key Messages for Policy Governance Boards. This one-page download provides five reasons for using Policy Governance, with two explanatory bullet points for each. With these key messages in hand, every board member can confidently express the “why” of Policy Governance.

Of course, we only recommend using these key messages if your board has been fully trained and is applying Policy Governance principles. To find out more about Brown Dog Consulting’s board education and coaching services, including suggestions on how to customize these key messages for your board, please set up a call with us here.

Servant Leadership and Policy Governance

Susan Mogensen

September 1, 2020

Looking for board education topics or ideas? Check out this video featuring John Carver being interviewed by Larry Spears about Servant Leadership and its connections with Policy Governance.

Questions explored in this interview revolve around the board’s role in providing foresight, overcoming weaknesses, and the importance of the board’s investment in listening.

One way for your board to benefit from the insights shared in this video would be to schedule a conversation about Servant Leadership and Policy Governance on the next board meeting agenda, and have each board member watch the video on their own in preparation for the meeting.

The board conversation could include questions such as:

What did you notice about this video?
Which statements or ideas stood out for you?
What previous situations or conversations did you find yourself reflecting upon when you watched this video?
Did the insights expressed in this video make you think about anything we should have done differently in the past?
Which ideas in this video are most relevant or important for us?
Are there any actions or decisions we should make as a group, further to this conversation?

Click here to download an unofficial transcript (.pdf) of this interview.

For more information about Servant Leadership, visit The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. John Carver’s website is www.carvergovernance.com.

Your Board and the COVID-19 Crisis

Susan Mogensen

March 28, 2020

When the Going Gets Tough, Just Use Policy Governance® Already

Susan Mogensen

August 6, 2019

I’ve seen and heard about boards of directors that, when faced with adversity, veered away from rather than towards the system they had in place — Policy Governance — to address the problem.

The Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide For All Boards

I’m reminded of the scene at the end of the Wizard of Oz when Glinda, the Good Witch, tells Dorothy that she had always had the power to click her heels together to go home. Similarly, Policy Governance boards have immense power and practical tools that they should remember to apply.

Yes, the job of being a board member is difficult, and that will always be the case. But when boards have clear policies in place, are monitoring the accomplishment of those policies, and using the whole set of principles that Policy Governance provides, they should be able to identify and resolve problems much more expeditiously than boards that are not so well-equipped.

Saving Democracy: Good Governance to the Rescue

Susan Mogensen

July 29, 2019

This article by Susan Mogensen appears in Board Leadership Number 164, July-August 2019. Board Leadership is published by Wiley Subscription Services, a Wiley Company. For more information and to subscribe, visit wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bl.

For those feeling that democracy as we have known it is under serious threat, or who yearn for vast improvements in how our democratic institutions work, know this: there is hope. Hope for creating a new and improved kind of democracy does not necessarily emanate from expectations around what might be accomplished via quick or dramatic changes to the “top” of our systems ⏤ e.g., new leadership, or constitutional changes ⏤ but rather from the evolution of good governance, leadership, and decision-making processes that are “bubbling up” from lower-level governing bodies. Local school boards, chambers of commerce, library boards, municipal councils and the like, are venues for meaningful democratic change that everyone can observe, access, and influence right now.

People are usually quick to react when corruption, injustice, and outrageous governance dysfunction rear their ugly heads, but often revert to a pattern of blaming people rather than rectifying the underlying systems and governance principles that permit (if not encourage) the festering blameworthy behaviours in the first place.

Rescuing democracy from the throes of corruption and decline, it’s key to be aware of a major contributing cause: apathy, and more specifically, the lack of general interest in governance processes. A recent article in Slate notes that, “There’s nothing Americans like less than detail-oriented bureaucracy. … there’s a lamentable tendency to see procedural violations as dull or unimportant.”1 Based on multiple variables across western democracies, Wikipedia notes apathy is on the rise: “… voter turnout has been steadily declining in the established democracies…. [O]ther forms of political participation have also declined, such as voluntary participation in political parties and the attendance of observers at town meetings. The decline in voting has also accompanied a general decline in civic participation, such as church attendance, membership in professional, fraternal, and student societies, youth groups, and parent-teacher associations.”2

The complacency challenge is real. People are usually quick to react when corruption, injustice, and outrageous governance dysfunction rear their ugly heads, but often revert to a pattern of blaming people rather than rectifying the underlying systems and governance principles that permit (if not encourage) the festering blameworthy behaviours in the first place.

Luckily, we do not suffer from a lack of knowledge, skills, and examples of how good governance ⏤ and by extension, more highly functioning public institutions ⏤ can work. Readers of Board Leadership over the years have witnessed, engendered, and participated in positive and meaningful governance changes within multiple types of governing bodies and organizations around the world. We know what is possible.

Of course, having knowledge and a vision is one thing; making it happen is another. It’s easy to despair when the vision is so clear, while achievement seems so elusive. As it often is for the greatest challenges people face, the solution is not to wait for one big miraculous event, but rather to undertake and habituate small, incremental changes over time. As Katie Kacvinsky wrote, (and many others, in multiple ways), “You need to be content with small steps. That’s all life is. Small steps that you take every day so when you look back down the road it all adds up and you know you covered some distance.”

Walter Shaub, former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, recently made a similar point with respect to the importance of making small changes to improve democracy, tweeting, “I’ve thoroughly lost patience with Twitter Demoralizers posting sarcastic remarks asking what good minor actions do. While they’re waiting for the magic perfect action and dreaming of The Big Rock Candy Mountain, you’re taking small actions that build critically needed momentum.”3

Having experience specifically with board leadership and group facilitation in general, and Policy Governance® principles in particular, gives one a somewhat different but immensely valuable perspective on the challenges to good governance, and the requisite solutions. Better yet, boards today ⏤ particularly publicly elected boards ⏤ can use these tips and techniques now, thereby modelling what is possible when good governance and leadership practices are applied. The three suggestions for incremental governance improvements which follow are informed by theory and experience, and their application within the arena of publicly elected boards might cause the most rapid normalization of good governance processes that we can expect.

Transform the Town Hall Meeting

Wikipedia notes that town hall meetings “can be traced back to the colonial era of the United States and to the 19th century in Australia.”4 While the intention of holding public events that allow some form of connection with political representatives is a good one, town hall meetings today have a tendency to become polarizing, acrimonious, and unproductive.

A typical town hall meeting today will include a presentation by the elected official(s), followed by a question-and-answer period with those in attendance. At a minimum, this format allows the representative(s) to share information and to be seen to be listening to the people he/she represents. In many cases, no doubt people feel better for having had their say, and elected representatives gain a greater appreciation for the issues on people’s minds.

At worst, the town hall format is a polarizing one, starting with the physical setup of the room with the representative up on a stage, facing the people seated in rows. During the question-and-answer period, attendees usually line up behind microphones, asking the representative one question at a time. The effect of televising or video recording these meetings can serve to encourage the boldest, angriest questions, creating a greater likelihood that responses are defensive and “stick to the script.”

The alternative is to create a much more productive public forum which engages people in dialogue with the representative and with each other. The field of facilitation overflows with processes and ideas on how to design meetings that improve information flow, develop understanding, enable sound decision-making, and create buy-in. To start, presentations can be streamlined, and circulated in advance or in writing. People can be seated comfortably at round tables, and guided by clear questions designed to elicit their values, ideas, and perspectives on key issues. Representatives can also take on more of a listening and facilitating role, always taking care to conclude each meeting with a clear action list.

2. Engage with People as Owners (rather than as Customers)

In Policy Governance, the emphasis for governing bodies is to root their authority in the moral/legal ownership, and draw input from this set of people on what the Ends (benefits, for whom, at what worth) should be. This foundational principle distinguishes the Policy Governance approach from practically all, if not all, other conceptions of governance, and requires boards to engage with owners on a level at which most people are unaccustomed.

Public life and commercial activities offer many examples of “stakeholder consultations,” and customer satisfaction kinds of questions. While obtaining this type of feedback is useful and, indeed, necessary, the type of consultation that people in governing positions must employ revolves around strategic, long-term, outward-looking questions, and those that drive at values and the criteria for making more specific decisions. Boards need to know what difference in the world their respective organizations must strive to create; how should which people benefit; are some benefits more important or have more worth than others; and so on. In a municipal setting, for example, what is most important: do people want the city to be safe? naturally beautiful and clean? thriving economically? culturally diverse and dynamic? How would the people rank the importance of these attributes?

Asking these types of questions ⏤ which require more in terms of conversation and dialogue with owners than do customer-level questions ⏤ helps to elevate public discourse, develops understanding between people, mitigates against polarizing exchanges, and provides meaningful value back to those with governing authority.

3. Inform, Educate, and Involve the People

Lastly, governing bodies must do more within their spheres of influence to inform, educate, and involve the people. The job of governing is not easy, but it does not need to appear so complex or boring that people don’t want to participate. Basic steps that many boards take already (required by law, or not) include hosting open meetings, posting relevant meeting and decision information online, and inviting public comment either during or between meetings.

Additional steps that boards and councils can take to create more engagement include inviting public meeting attendees to evaluate meetings based on markers of good governance processes. For example, did the board listen to or incorporate public input? Did Council members listen to and respect each other? Did board members demonstrate appropriate meeting decorum? Was there evidence of results or outcomes being achieved?

As people’s awareness of what good governance looks like improves over time, boards will ultimately raise expectations around what higher-level public institutions should be able to achieve, and increase the size and depth of the pool of people motivated and qualified to run for public office and board leadership positions of all kinds.

It has been said that to save democracy, we must change it. As microcosms of larger, public institutions, boards of directors are already contributing to meaningful changes in expectations and processes. Step by step, day by day, all of us can continue to apply good governance principles and practices to build a better world.

References

1Lili Loofbourow, “The GOP Has Its Final Anti-Abortion Victory in Sight,” Slate, May 14, 2019. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/alabama-georgia-abortion-ban-supreme-court.html.

2Wikipedia. Voter Turnout. 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout (accessed May 20, 2019).

3Shaub, Walter (@waltshaub). “I’ve thoroughly lost patience with Twitter Demoralizers posting sarcastic remarks asking what good minor actions do. While they’re waiting for the magic perfect action and dreaming of The Big Rock Candy Mountain, you’re taking small actions that build critically needed momentum.” May 19, 2019, 1:51 pm.

4Wikipedia. Town hall meeting. 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_hall_meeting (accessed May 20, 2019).