Kinda Doing Policy Governance®

I was hardly aware of Policy Governance® when I was serving with an organization that contemplated moving in that direction. They engaged a consultant who said he had experience with the Policy Governance model. In retrospect it appears he had experience in governing by policy, which is not close to the same thing. Policy Governance is a series of principles which are intended to be integrated as a whole. When that is not done, the integrity of the Policy Governance model developed by John Carver, becomes compromised as pieces of it are taken and added capriciously to whatever system (or non-system) is currently in place. This is a common misconception: that having a bunch of board developed policies in itself makes a board a Policy Governance board. 
 

A frequent challenge comes with the Board that acknowledges that it has adopted Policy Governance at some time in the past but it has not fully implemented the model. John Carver says that using parts of a system can result in inadequate or even undesirable performance.  Sometimes the reason for not carrying through is because of an incomplete or inadequate understanding of the model. This can result in a tried that- didn’t work perspective. Another reason for aborting or abandoning Policy Governance is the lack of discipline on the part of the board to follow through on the rigorous monitoring of the limitation polices imposed on the leader. There can even be a failure on the part of the board to review its own policies which it previously agreed to abide by.

I enjoy working with these organizations, because they have enough of a taste to at least consider Policy Governance and therefore together we can build on that foundation. If you are a ministry like this, I would love to opportunity to connect with you.