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The Policy Governance Model

Board leadership requires, above all, that the board provide vision. To do so, the board must first have an adequate vision of its own job. That role is best conceived neither as volunteer-helper nor as watchdog but as trustee-owner. Policy Governance is an approach to the job of governing that emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both board and staff, and the strategic ability to lead leaders. Observing the principles of the Policy Governance model, a board crafts its values into policies of the four types below. Policies written this way enable the board to focus its wisdom into one central, brief, document. Ends The Board defines which human needs are to be met, for whom, and at what cost. Written with a long-term perspective, these mission-related policies embody most of the board's part of long-range planning. Ends Policies Executive Limitations The board establishes the boundaries of acceptability within which staff methods and activities can responsibly be left to staff. These limiting policies, therefore, apply to staff means rather than to ends. Executive Limitations Policies Board-Executive Linkage The board clarifies the manner in which it delegates authority to staff as well as how it evaluates staff performance on provisions of the Ends and Executive Limitations policies. Board-GM Linkage Policies Board Process The Board determines its philosophy, its accountability, and specifics of its own job. Governance Process Policies Bibliography Carver, John, Boards that Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and public organizations, Jossey-Bass, 1990 Carver, John, Empowering Board for Leadership: 2 Cassette tapes. Redefining excellence in Governance, Jossey-Bass, 1992 Carver, John, Board Governance: 2 hour VHS, 1993 Carver, John and Miriam Mayhew Carver, Reinventing Your Board, Jossey-Bass, 1997 Oliver, Caroline, ed., The Policy Governance Fieldbook, Jossey-Bass, 1997