The complete, official summary of Policy Governance® principles is the Policy Governance Source Document, and here is a list of publications to learn more.
Meanwhile, here is a quick summary of the ten principles:
- Ownership: The board is accountable to a legal/moral ownership. Owners are a subset of stakeholders.
- Board Position: The board serves the ownership and leads the organization.
- Board Holism: Board authority is group authority.
- Ends: The board defines “Ends,” which are: a benefit, for whom, at what worth/relative priority.
- Board Means: The board defines how it will operate and behave, and how it will connect with operations.
- Executive Limitations: The board limits operations from doing anything illegal, unethical and imprudent. These boundaries are set via Executive Limitations policies.
- Policy Levels: Policies are written from broad to specific. Lower level policies do not introduce new ideas.
- Delegation Clarity: Delegation must be clear with no overlap or duplication to multiple parties.
- Any Reasonable Interpretation: Delegatees are accountable for carrying out any reasonable interpretation of board policy.
- Monitoring: The board regularly checks for evidence of accomplishment of a reasonable interpretation of Executive Limitations and Ends.
See also:
and Do you understand Policy Governance? The PG360 Quiz developed by IPGA