Originally published in Govern Update, April 2019.

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” – Robert K. Greenleaf

Customer service is a very well-known concept in management and organizational life, and it is widely acknowledged that serving customers well leads to increased loyalty, progress, and/or profit. A primary challenge for board members, however, is to understand and embrace the concept of “owner service,” whether those owners are members, a community, shareholders, or people sharing an interest in an organization’s purpose.

Boards using Policy Governance principles learn that governance is founded on the principle of owner-accountability, i.e., boards are accountable to legal or moral owners for ensuring that the organization achieves what it should. This principle means in turn that boards must engage in dialogue with owners to discern what relevant results look like, or what difference in the world the organization exists to make.

The fact that boards must engage with owners in this manner, combined with the board’s leadership position within the organization, requires boards to focus on owner service much moreso than what we typically know as customer service.

By serving owners effectively, boards help to create long-term sustainability for the organization and better Ends focus and achievement. Boards that embrace the power of owner-accountability also cultivate a more informed ownership and inspire future leaders.

Once a board has clearly determined who its legal or moral owners are, it can then turn its attention to owner service, a function that will be ongoing for as long as the organization exists. Five keys to fulfilling this role are:

Listening: Boards engage in conversations with owners to know what their values are, and in particular, explore owner values with respect to Ends as opposed to customer-level issues which are addressed by operational leaders. To unearth these values, the big challenge lies in designing questions that will stimulate thoughts and ideas about the difference in the world the organization exists to create rather than how the organization delivers programs, products, and services.

Getting smarter: All boards have a lot of collective wisdom ⏤ AND can benefit from getting even smarter. The key is in knowing what to get smarter about, and when it comes to owner service, that can mean understanding more about emerging political / economic / social / technological trends, legal matters, governance, the operational environment, etc.

Translating owner values into Ends: Once boards have engaged with owners ⏤ and therefore become a “little smarter” ⏤ their challenge is to ensure that board policies (especially Ends) actually reflect the values of owners, as well as the values of the board members themselves.

Monitoring Ends accomplishment: Of course, having relevant Ends policies is a very important thing; making sure those Ends have been reasonably interpreted and achieved is another. So boards must ensure that they monitor Ends achievement on a regular basis (usually once per year, perhaps more).

Communicating: While the first function of owner service is to listen, board service to owners also includes communication back to owners about key decisions made by the board and the progress the organization is making. Many boards fulfill this function at least annually via an annual general meeting/report. Boards also use ongoing communication via a website, newsletter, or other means.

And…the cycle repeats.

While boards using Policy Governance principles understand the importance and processes for owner service, they cannot usually expect all owners to fully appreciate the distinction between owner service and customer service. Ideally, by applying all Policy Governance principles, boards can ensure that customers or clients are being fairly and well-treated on the operational side of the organization, while board members focus their own efforts on being true and effective servant-leaders to the ownership interest.