Board Development
Board Development
A policy is a kind of plan, explicit before the fact, or implicit afterward. Many modern managers of public and nonprofit organizations have applied modern management theory and techniques in their various operations. The wrench in the gears tends to be that governing boards (board of directors) have not kept apace. Where organizational management has grown, board governance has not. Thus, the pressure for improved management has created a gap between the ability to manage and the ability to govern, which makes leadership a brittle commodity. Organizational leadership often threatens governing boards (board of directors) because most boards know that they cannot keep up with the demands and needs that management continues to present.
CEOs tend to "stage manage" board meetings so that their boards (board of directors) don't cause damage to the organization. Staff develops board agendas and recruits board help in the accomplishment of their mission. However, in such situations we find that the board or directors, charged with organizational leadership, is following rather than leading.
Carver's Policy Governance® model provides a structure that frees both staff and board to accomplish their different tasks, providing increased freedom, responsibility and accountability to all parties. The fundamental character or driving force of every organization (and every person, as well) issues from values or beliefs. What a person or organization values and believes significantly impacts their actions and activities. Values provide the driving force for all human activity.
Thus, by focusing on values and beliefs directly, boards can better provide organizational leadership. Carver provides a model of board of directors structure that allows boards to incorporate values and perspectives through the use of policy development. "Values dominate policies that are instructive to staff, that is, policies that tell staff what to do or not do. Perspectives dominate the policies which codify the board's own process and relationships" (Carver).
Conventionally, policy has referred to any and all board of directors utterances or actions. But as boards have been short-sighted and reactive (rather than proactive), they approve staff actions or agendas one month only to rescind them later because they produced unexpected consequences. Thus, boards tend to provide "mop up" services for staff leadership. Too often, boards default their leadership responsibility because they can never get out from behind the swell of problems caused by a lack of leadership.
In contrast, leaders clarify values, and values both produce and limit action. Sometimes values provide the driving force for doing something, and sometimes they provide the limiting force for not doing something. Thus, the clarification of values, beliefs and perspectives serves as a tune up for the engine of organizational development.
Carver sites four reasons why policy-focused leadership is a hallmark of governance improvement.
Leverage and efficiency. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board can affect more issues with less effort.
Expertise. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board can guide the organization without itself having to have all the requisite skills to manage it.
Fundamentals. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board concerns itself with the heart of the organization, which provides the board with a compelling legitimacy that in turn gives the organization a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
Vision and inspiration. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board infuses the organization with heightened morale, interest and excitement.
"Directing an organization can be like rearing a child. Controlling every behavior is a fatiguing and ultimately impossible charge. Inculcating the policies (proper values) of life is far more effective and, even if some slippage occurs on individual behaviors, it is the only serviceable approach in the long run" (Carver).
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Board Development - To learn more about this author, visit Phillip Ross's Website.
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This is the third in a series of articles that examine some of the analysis and solutions provided by the work of John Carver and his Policy Governance® model for board of directors governance (www.policygovernance.org), applicable to business, government and non-profit organizations that want to increase their organizational effectivenessthat want to increase their organizational effectiveness.
A policy is a kind of plan, explicit before the fact, or implicit afterward. Many modern managers of public and nonprofit organizations have applied modern management theory and techniques in their various operations. The wrench in the gears tends to be that governing boards (board of directors) have not kept apace. Where organizational management has grown, board governance has not. Thus, the pressure for improved management has created a gap between the ability to manage and the ability to govern, which makes leadership a brittle commodity. Organizational leadership often threatens governing boards (board of directors) because most boards know that they cannot keep up with the demands and needs that management continues to present.
CEOs tend to "stage manage" board meetings so that their boards (board of directors) don't cause damage to the organization. Staff develops board agendas and recruits board help in the accomplishment of their mission. However, in such situations we find that the board or directors, charged with organizational leadership, is following rather than leading.
Carver's Policy Governance® model provides a structure that frees both staff and board to accomplish their different tasks, providing increased freedom, responsibility and accountability to all parties. The fundamental character or driving force of every organization (and every person, as well) issues from values or beliefs. What a person or organization values and believes significantly impacts their actions and activities. Values provide the driving force for all human activity.
Thus, by focusing on values and beliefs directly, boards can better provide organizational leadership. Carver provides a model of board of directors structure that allows boards to incorporate values and perspectives through the use of policy development. "Values dominate policies that are instructive to staff, that is, policies that tell staff what to do or not do. Perspectives dominate the policies which codify the board's own process and relationships" (Carver).
Conventionally, policy has referred to any and all board of directors utterances or actions. But as boards have been short-sighted and reactive (rather than proactive), they approve staff actions or agendas one month only to rescind them later because they produced unexpected consequences. Thus, boards tend to provide "mop up" services for staff leadership. Too often, boards default their leadership responsibility because they can never get out from behind the swell of problems caused by a lack of leadership.
In contrast, leaders clarify values, and values both produce and limit action. Sometimes values provide the driving force for doing something, and sometimes they provide the limiting force for not doing something. Thus, the clarification of values, beliefs and perspectives serves as a tune up for the engine of organizational development.
Carver sites four reasons why policy-focused leadership is a hallmark of governance improvement.
Leverage and efficiency. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board can affect more issues with less effort.
Expertise. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board can guide the organization without itself having to have all the requisite skills to manage it.
Fundamentals. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board concerns itself with the heart of the organization, which provides the board with a compelling legitimacy that in turn gives the organization a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
Vision and inspiration. By clarifying and tweaking organizational and/or corporate values, the board infuses the organization with heightened morale, interest and excitement.
"Directing an organization can be like rearing a child. Controlling every behavior is a fatiguing and ultimately impossible charge. Inculcating the policies (proper values) of life is far more effective and, even if some slippage occurs on individual behaviors, it is the only serviceable approach in the long run" (Carver).
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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