Category: Governance Guidance

Question #43 – Does Your Board Set Criteria for Measuring Board Success?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) High-performing boards are characterized by a number of observable behaviors. They know what their job is, and they do it efficiently. They plan their own work and perform their work at the policy level, focusing more on organizational outcomes than process. They are responsible for their own performance; they follow their own rules and deal fairly and consistently with staff and each other. They set the vision for themselves and the organization. They clearly understand Read More …

Question #31 – Does Your Board Facilitate Governance?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) “Where previously such admonition from the chair had to come from that person’s own belly of conscience, this policy gives them fodder for the canon of board leadership, to call to task any trustee who has trodden from the path of policy proviso and gotten off into areas which the board has agreed are off limits.” ― Gene Royer1 The above is a description of board policy that grants authority to the board chair Read More …

Question #30 – Does Your Board Set Expectations for Governance?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The board is responsible for its own performance and commits itself to continuous improvement. The board will assure that its members are provided with training and professional support necessary to govern effectively. As a means to assure continuous improvement, the board regularly and systematically will monitor all policies in this section and will assess the quality of each meeting by debriefing the meeting following its conclusion. ― San Diego SD1 The above policy is Read More …

Question #29 – Does Your Board Define its Own Role?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The Board’s job is to represent, lead and serve the community and to govern the district by establishing expectations for district results, expectations for quality operational performance, and monitoring actual performance against those expectations. – Lake Washington School District1 In the brief statement above, the board succinctly defines its own role. Role clarity is one of two key conditions (the other being goal clarity) organizational consultants often assess to assure that “roles and goals” Read More …

Question #28 – Does Your Board Give Itself Governance Guidance?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Historically, studies of school boards have tended to examine the behavior of members as individuals but not the behavior of the school board as a collective. ― Peter Cistone1 Boards don’t often think of whole board performance. Focusing on individual board members’ boardsmanship behavior, whether in designing training or in developing policy, is certainly necessary but it is not sufficient. The board must also remain aware of its governance performance, defining its expectations of Read More …