Governing with Policy Governance

If you have people who are accountable to you, you don’t need to formally issue policy statements to create policy. Parents, bosses, boards, government administrations, etc. are producing implied policy all of the time.

Every time someone, or some administrative body, issues a decision, all of the people who are stakeholders in that decision will not only attend to the decision itself, they will also try to asses the implied values or policies that were used to create this decision.

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Technorati Tags: implied policy, Policy Governance, policy

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Over the years I have worked with different groups on strategic plans, marketing plans, business plans, mission statements, vision statements, and during the past decade: Ends policies. I once watched a strategic planning process that took over two years to craft a huge and elegant plan — but the final result was actually impractical and dysfunctional. Most groups spend too long trying to make the plan perfect. [If you cannot see the rest of this article, click on the title... ]

Technorati Tags: Ends, Policy Governance, strategic planning

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Have you ever wondered how the Canadian government operates? I don’t mean the way it is described in high school text books — this is about how it really works.

Maybe you are not just wondering. You may have an important issue. Do you know how to move it on to the federal agenda?

Here is the practical manual that sorts out the machinery for you. You won’t find it at your local lumber store.

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Technorati Tags: Policy Governance, politician, Glen Milne, Canadian policy, Making Policy, policy

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There are many organizations that are doing some good work, or at least not failing. But they do not have the ambition to solve the problem for which the society was formed. The people are satisfied to be making a worthwhile contribution — endlessly. [If you cannot see the rest of this article, please click on the title... ]

Technorati Tags: board member, de Toqueville, failure, Policy Governance, society, vision

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If you are elected to the board, or participate in any meetings where the decisions are the result of a vote where the assembly is using a form of Rules of Order, then you are a politician. If you want to do your job effectively you need to be practical about how the business of being a politician works.

Technorati Tags: agenda, debate, democracy, meeting, Policy Governance, politician, politics, Rules of Order

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Articulating the Ends of an organization is the job of the board. Deciding on what is appropriate is not an easy task. Usually board members have their visions of what should be achieved, sometimes members of the community petition the board to attend to their projects, and often the staff members have ideas of what should become the priority activities. [If you cannot see the rest of this article, click on the title... ]

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At this site there are many references to the board, the staff and sometimes to the lofty title of the CEO. Many organizations cannot afford any staff or have only a few employees — none of whom could be described as a CEO. Should organizations like this use Policy Governance? [If you cannot see the rest of this article, click on the title... ]

Technorati Tags: board member, CEO, Ends, executive limitation, govern, John Carver, monitoring report, non-profit, policy, Policy Governance, volunteer

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People seem to think that policy is vague and is about generalizations. With Policy Governance the board is speaking words-of-power. If the board knows how to hold the staff accountable for its words, they will make difference. Here is how it can work for you. [If you cannot see the rest of this article, click on the title... ]

Technorati Tags: board member, CEO, Ends, executive limitation, Monitoring, non-profit, Policy Governance

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The board is the highest authority in the organization. As long as the board does not require its staff to behave in an illegal, imprudent or unethical manner, the board has the power to issue any command that it decides is appropriate. With traditional governance, most boards exercise that authority. A Policy Governance board has developed other tools for attending to its fiduciary responsibilities. Learning to use those tools is one of the skills that must be acquired by the board members. [click the title if you do not see the remainder of this article...]

Technorati Tags: board, board member, Ends, executive limitation, govern, governance, John Carver, Policy Governance

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This statement came out of a recent facilitated process:

Walls are built by people who are frightened,
and the walls will eventually crumble.

A vision is enduring.

Technorati Tags: objective, vision