A Policy Governance® Fable

Once upon a time, long long ago a boy named Ted Hull created a recipe for Ted’s Temptingly Tantalizing Tomato Turnover.  So delighted was he by what he had made that he decided to register the name and trademark his recipe. This way no one could modify his delightful dessert and still call it Ted’s Temptingly Tantalizing Tomato Turnover, while still having the recipe available to the general public. The ingredients and directions were posted on walls throughout the village, shared by friends until it eventually became famous around the world.

By and by, some who fancied themselves as chefs sought to improve upon the recipe. This was done by leaving some ingredients out and using less of others. Some people actually went so far as to replace the tomatoes with blueberries.  Sadly some of those same chefs, even those who replaced the tomatoes with blueberries, continued to call the boy’s legally registered recipe “Ted’s Tempting Tantalizing Tomato Turnover”. 

Once upon a time long ago - like over thirty years ago - a man named John Carver created a governance model and called it Policy Governance^®.  He put together the ingredients and the instructions for how the ingredients needed to be mixed. The ingredients and directions were posted on pages of the internet and it became famous around the world.

By and by, some who fancied themselves as governance experts sought to improve upon the model. This was done primarily by leaving out some ingredients and using less of others. While this is the prerogative of the self-proclaimed experts, sadly they continued to call what they concocted Policy Governance^®.

Ted’s Temptingly Tantalizing Tomato Turnover and Policy Governance^® have at least one thing (and arguably only one thing) in common: they are both owned by someone. While there are people who believe the product can be improved upon, they have no right to make those improvements and call it by the same name.

In the interests of full disclosure let me tell you that Ted Hull is as familiar with a kitchen as a seven year old is with the cockpit of a Boeing 777. So please do not send for the recipe. It is so secret that even he doesn’t know what’s in it.

However Ted is familiar with organizations that are using Policy Governance^® but leave out some of the ingredients. He talked to a pastor recently who said that his church had introduced Policy Governance^®. When he asked the pastor if the board was monitoring compliance to the policies, the pastor told Ted that he was “self-monitoring”.  Ted doesn’t know what other ingredients were substituted or left out, but in our allegory the pastor essentially replaced the tomatoes with blueberries and continued to call it Ted’s Temptingly Tantalizing Tomato Turnover.

This is not a lesson in telling you how to bake or how to govern an organization. It is a reminder that when you change the ingredients and alter the directions of Policy Governance^® it isn’t Policy Governance^® anymore.