How Do You Know What You Don’t Know?
Jeffery Schau, Consultant, The Governance Coach™

One day I was using a hand saw to cut a piece of wood. I knew enough to keep my hands in a safe position and brace the piece of wood. I also knew there are tough spots in wood, called knots, that can catch the blade, causing it to stick. Armed with this knowledge I thought I could safely proceed. Unfortunately, there was something I didn’t know - just how much a saw blade can bend. As I was sawing away, I hit a good stride with nice long strokes. Then it happened. As I went to push the blade forwards after a long back stroke, the blade got stuck and all that forward force had to go somewhere. Sure enough, the blade bent in an arc just wide enough to reach where my knee was positioned. And now, I have a scar where that saw blade took a chunk out of me.

My past is full of stories that demonstrate how what we don’t know can hurt us. Anyone who has done a reasonable amount of woodworking knows that tools can be dangerous, especially saws not meant to cut through our frail bodies. But knowing this is not enough to keep us safe. So how do you avoid ‘blind spots,’ or how do you know what you don’t know?

A frequent question of learners of Policy Governance is about what the board should or should not "approve" in Policy Governance. This is an area that sometimes results in confusion because it requires a shift in mindset from traditional governance practices. Traditionally governed boards "approve" (or adopt, or accept) all manner of operational decisions. This article focuses specifically on the board's actions in respect to monitoring reports from the CEO.

Over the past two decades ‘GOVERN for IMPACT’ affiliates and our broader community of people interested in governance excellence have learned that ‘board governance’ is an unique discipline in our world. In a recent discussion of university board and president leaders, I heard governance described as “fingers out, nose in…”. You can imagine, I was horrified by this limited vision or view of what governance is or how it contributes to organizational impact.

What the speaker meant by “fingers out” was that boards should not involve themselves in one-off operational decisions… very true! The board’s role in operations is to empower operations through clarity regarding risk, desired organizational impact, and establishing any boundaries on operations. Further, when he said “nose in” – not a pretty picture – he meant that the board’s role is to be looking for significant challenges in ethics, prudence, or the lack of results achieved for the desired recipients or beneficiaries. Again, this has some truth as the board is accountable for an ethical and prudent organization which produces meaningful outcomes/results… better, however, through a logical monitoring/evaluation process… rather than sniffing around for the bad stuff.

The most concerning thing about the “fingers out, nose in” concept of governance is that it misses some of the most important dimensions of board governance starting with strategic foresight and the leadership of specifying expected organizational outcomes. The board has a significant responsibility and opportunity to really drive the organization to critical impacts now and for the future.

The board, in its articulation of desired impact, does not create these ideas in an ivory tower or in a vacuum. The board’s wisdom on strategic insight and foresight comes from critical conversations with owners, from scanning the environment to look for disrupters, from identifying opportunities to impact where there is a need, and from forming a collective ambition to have a positive impact over the long haul or as long as is needed.

We are so highly regulated these days that if all our governing boards do is ‘sniff out’ bad ‘stuff’ and keep their hands out of operations, then we really have to ask “what is the long term value of governance?”.

Board members generally come to a board table because they envision and are committed to positively contributing, to make a real difference, to creating real value or impact. If this is the case, their contribution of looking beyond the day-to-day work, to looking beyond strategy, and to look forward and as a result actively influence the organization’s purpose and its impact… this is a big part of governing successfully.

I read a lot of stuff. Online and print, articles and books, the most recent releases and the not-so-current: governance, strategy, management, culture, measurement, news, technology, music, food, mysteries…you get the idea.

I don't read everything with the same attention to detail with which I read governance books and articles. Often, I find myself having an internal dialogue about how an author's ideas relate to Policy Governance principles – the main preoccupation in my consulting. I'm intrigued by the increasing frequency in my regular reading of the attention being given to concepts such as ownership, accountability, role of the board, the chair's role in ensuring integrity of board process, or the need to separate management and governance roles. If your board is already using Policy Governance, these ideas sound familiar – right? Not that authors of what I have read reference Policy Governance. I suspect many are not familiar with or, if they are, fully appreciate how in the early 90's John Carver wove these elements together into an integral system of governance.

A very important element of the success of Policy Governance is the dialogue that can be created by following the principles. Good governance is about translating values into results, and to be able to have a meaningful conversation about values, we need to engage in dialogue. But there's a caveat: dialogue doesn't automatically result from following a set of principles. All participants have to actually see the benefit of dialogue, and act to make the dialogue happen.

As John and Miriam Carver put it in their book Reinventing your board: boards using Policy Governance are 'spokespersons for meaningful values, to model bigness of spirit' (p. 229). Policy Governance, and for that matter, dialogue, is about that spirit as much as about the policies on paper.

In my consulting practice, I have learned that Policy Governance only works if at some point during implementation, boards make that switch and change the nature of the conversation from an arena-like discussion to a circle of dialogue.

A few weeks ago, the Canadian federal Minister of Health, cautioned Canadians to prepare for a COVID-19 virus outbreak here. We are appropriately witnessing more severe measures already in place elsewhere and in Canada such as many jurisdictions calling a 'state of emergency'.

While governments are bracing and responding, Boards of Directors are wondering if their respective organizations are ready. And well they should, given that they have a duty of care for the organization's performance and this health emergency is having serious impacts on most businesses and their people.

When Boards face challenging and urgent situations, there is a tendency to react and forget what is already in place. This applies as much to Boards using Policy Governance® as those that are not.

For example, a museum board considering a COVID-19 outbreak might roll up its sleeves and start building contingency plans for those operational areas impacted by such an outbreak (e.g., staffing absences, shortfalls in revenues due to fewer members of the public attending, if and when to close the museum to the public, how to help health authorities connect with those who might have been exposed to a verified COVID-19 carrier who was at the museum).

A School Board might jump in and require that the CEO develop contingency plans for an outbreak including specific actions the Board requests (e.g., protocols for school buses, how to continue educational support if children are required to stay home).

But for a Board using Policy Governance, in all likelihood, you've already addressed your concerns in your policies!

Each Board is unique in the content of its policies; however, if the Board has built and maintained its policies using the policy architecture of Policy Governance (i.e., policies are created in sizes), at some level you've addressed your concerns. For example, you might have a policy that:

[…the CEO shall not:] Permit clients to be without reasonable protections against hazards or conditions that might threaten their health, safety or well-being.

In addition, you might have a policy such as:
The CEO shall not cause or allow a workplace environment that is unfair, disrespectful, unsafe, or disorganized or otherwise interferes with employees' ability to do their jobs.


And regarding financial matters:
With respect to the actual, ongoing financial conditions and activities, the CEO shall not cause or allow the development of fiscal jeopardy…

"Okay," you say, "what about plans for those situations?"

In some cases, we've worked with boards to develop policies such as:
[…the CEO shall not:] Permit budgeting for any fiscal period or the remaining part of any fiscal period that is not derived from the multi-year plan.

In other words, the CEO is not obligated to stay with the budget created at the beginning of the year. If the situation has changed, it would be imprudent not to revise her budget accordingly. It would also be imprudent not to revise her budget to ensure compliance with the Financial Condition policies (e.g., don't allow fiscal jeopardy").


Of course, your Board might not have these or similar policies in place; but if you are using Policy Governance, chances are you have a General Executive Constraint to the effect of:

The CEO shall not cause or allow any organizational practice, activity, decision or circumstance which is either unlawful, imprudent, or in violation of commonly accepted business and professional ethics.

Would there be any interpretation of that policy which did not include contingency plans for an event that is highly probable? Even without a policy directly naming COVID-19 or any other public health concern, the board has addressed this issue.

Nonetheless, a Board using Policy Governance should not be content with just having those policies in place. It should rigorously monitor to ensure compliance.

Under normal circumstances, the Board would expect to monitor each of the relevant policies over time. However, these aren't normal circumstances. What can and should Boards do?

The Board can require that your CEO provide a special monitoring report to demonstrate compliance with potential scenarios related to your organization in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak. In other words, the CEO would provide a report demonstrating that she has plans in place to address those policies (such as those included above) impacted by such an outbreak.

In this case, monitoring of student safety by the school superintendent needn't address other issues of student safety as it would for a normal monitoring of student safety.

Instead, it would provide interpretations and evidence for measures in place related to student safety and COVID-19. To ensure that Ends are achieved, the superintendent's contingency plans might address how education can continue if schools are forced to close by government officials. Planning for related revenue shortfalls and/or increased expenses can also be a part of this report.

The impact on each organization will be somewhat different. The policies that the CEO must address will vary accordingly.

The Board's job is to ensure that the CEO's interpretation of Board policies is reasonable for the outbreak. This does not mean that the Board needs to become experts in virology or public health. It does mean that it should look for reports which give robust rationale for why the interpretations are reasonable. For example, have the interpretations been created based upon solid advice from health professionals?

Following this process, your Board should get better results than if the Board dives in to develop specific operating plans or directing what should be included in the plans. Work your system and it will work for you.

Richard Stringham,
Senior Consultant

A year and a half ago, with the launch of GOVERN for IMPACT's new name, new Ends, new broader focus, we set out, as a community, to build the commitment to and knowledge, skills and wisdom to enhance governance excellence and the Policy Governance System application in our world. Little did we know then, that as a world community we would need impact-focused, owner-accountable, systematic governance to the extent and scale that is evident now.

We pray for your safety and your wisdom in these challenging times. As you are and will face the impact and chaos of COVID-19, we encourage you to reflect on the key principles of effective governance and work to encourage their implementation now more than ever.

At GOVERN, we invite you to join hands, hearts, and minds with us. We strongly believe that every organization, through principled board and executive leadership, guided by moral imperative, has the capacity to become ever more responsive, agile, and resilient, and in the process, to change the world for the better.

When Boards uphold an integrated set of governing principles within a sound framework, we have seen them lead with greater clarity of purpose and focus on the future. Boards that have lasting impact behave as unified bodies, engage in meaningful discourse, placing the needs of the greater community first, anticipating and leading change on behalf of that community, and ensuring proper stewardship of resources – human, nature, and/or financial.

At GOVERN for IMPACT, we have been very focused on affiliate, staff, and public safety. As a result, we will be offering a fabulous online conference in June 2020 – see the details below.

While you are physically isolating and hopefully socially integrating if you have time to volunteer with GOVERN for IMPACT we can use sure your help/expertise/insight. Please contact Kathy Wiener at [email protected].


Karen Fryday-Field
GOVERN for IMPACT, CEO

This is a very challenging period for Govern for Impact. As it is for all other organizations, businesses and people worldwide. Now, more than ever, we as a board are aware of the importance of knowing our proper responsibility and work from the values of our owners. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep building a dedicated, knowledgeable community, committed to excellence in governance, driven by the vision that people all around the world benefit from excellent boards.

Govern for Impact has been faced with other challenges in our short history. If we rely on the same logic, faith in our community and belief in our values, as we have used before, I am confident that we will get through this difficult situation too. Let's take on this challenge and help the world in showing how systematic, owner-accountable governance can help to adapt to quickly changing circumstances, while keep being focused on a common purpose.

I wish you the best for the health and safety of you and your loved ones. Hopefully, we'll be able to meet again in person soon. 

I often have conversations with other young professionals about the intricacies of serving on a Board of Directors. So many of us want to join a board to take a leadership position within organizations that we're passionate about, but some might feel that their voices aren't as loud as their more experienced peers. You may, as I have, struggle to speak up with confidence during board meetings or in meetings with executives.

In March 2018, the former IPGA, now Govern for Impact, launched the Caroline Oliver Fund for a New Vision. This fund was launched in order to create resources to achieve the Govern for Impact ‘Ends’ (Strategic outcomes for people across the world for a reasonable cost)… and also celebrate Carolyn Oliver’s (former IPGA CEO) significant contribution to help shape this vision. 

[Read full article here]

How quickly a year passes. While we still remember all the great things that happened during the conference in Savannah last year, our annual conference in Québec City is rapidly approaching, the first under our new name. In Savannah, we made the pivotal decision to change our name and bylaws and to adopt new Ends. Preparing for that decision took a lot of work, and as board chair I am confident that this new phase will bring yet new questions to be solved.

Luckily, we are using Policy Governance principles. In the same way that those principles helped us steer through the difficult waters of the transition phase, they are helping us now to focus on what our job as a board is: governing. In my earlier blog, I mentioned that we are now discussing further ownership linkage. A second important issue is Ends monitoring, which is on our agenda right now. We have discussed Ends interpretations with our CEO a few times during the past year, and are now in the process of assessing the first data generated during this new phase of our organization. This has led to interesting discussions between the board and our CEO.

These discussions are not always simple, and it reminds me that it would be wrong to think that using Policy Governance ensures that everything is simple for a board. Although following the model can help speed up decisions on most monitoring reports, not all of them can be processed quickly. What Policy Governance really does, in my view, is help focus the discussion on the issues that really need to be discussed. And those discussions may still be complex.

So, although the Policy Governance principles are crystal clear, the questions that arise while using them can still be nuanced. Coping with those questions is the hard work of governing. Personally, what I would like Govern for Impact to be is a community where we can discuss any of the hard questions. And when we stumble, to understand if it was because governance is just difficult, or because we weren't attending fully to our governance principles.

In the end, Governance for Impact is a community, not a model, and the strength of our community is our most important asset. Let's continue to open up, to include more boards in learning how we can all achieve governance excellence. 

Seventeen participants from the US, Canada and Japan gathered at the Hyatt Riverwalk in San Antonio Texas for a two day workshop centered on methods of measurement available to boards and CEOs.

[Read full article here]

You are the key to help change the world through governance excellence. Our world is in good hands only when every organization we build is led with clarity of purpose, determination to lasting results, deep loyalty to fundamental values, and an unwavering dedication to the people for whose benefit it exists. This happens when there is excellence in board governance.

Govern for Impact is dedicated to empowering boards and re-imagining the world with excellent, accountable governance. We are making a difference trough education, advocacy, research and thought leadership. Support this cause by joining our community. As of February 1, 2019, we will expand the number of categories through which people can be affiliated with Govern for Impact. We hope that you, and where you are associated with an organization, that organization will join Govern as an affiliate (formerly member) in 2019. Outlined below are the various options to join.

My first time at the Govern for Impact Annual Conference was almost 4 years ago in Toronto. As a life-long planner of conferences, I’ve attended hundreds of similar events and I pretty much knew what to expect – a couple of receptions, some breakout sessions, a keynote or two, and a sense of community around a topic that mattered to me. And it was all that.

[Read full article here]

November 19, 2019

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM (EST)

Presenter: John Bohley
Moderator: Karen Fryday-Field, Senior Governance Consultant and GOVERN for IMPACT CEO

Enrich your understanding of Policy Governance application by exploring the provocative concept of servant-leadership as developed in the classic essays of Robert Greenleaf. Explore John Carver's thoughts about servant-leadership and how he uses the servant-leadership concept to explain key aspects of the Policy Governance model. Compare and contrast the governance thinking of Robert Greenleaf and John Carver. Explore the potential dynamic synergy of the Policy Governance system and the values of servant-leadership for board governance that is effective, accountable, and compassionate. Consider refreshing Policy Governance template policies to explicitly embody a range of servant-leadership values.

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM (EST)

Session Presenter: John Bohley
Session Moderator: Karen Fryday-Field​

11:00 am - 2:00 pm (EST)

This session is a must for Board Chairs, Board Members, CEOs, Board Administrators, and Vice Presidents, Finance.

Speaker: Richard Stringham
Moderator: Karen Fryday-Field

If you've been working with Policy Governance for any length of time, you know that one of the three components of Ends policies is the "at what worth" component. You might also feel comfortable with the theory behind the "what worth" concept, but like so many others, you probably feel challenged to apply the concepts.

[Read full article here]