Sustaining

The board systematically sustains and enhances its chosen model of governance, enabling it to perform well into the future despite turnover of its members, turnover of the CEO, and turnover of the staff, and the inevitable reduction in institutional memory and erosion of effective practice.

During its first year of operation, and continuously after that, the board pays attention to its own governing process (taking self-correcting measures) and the organization’s progress (adjusting/updating its guidance) while monitoring both board performance and organizational performance and making mid-course adjustments in policy guidance.

Sustaining the model begins with self-assessment at each meeting and throughout the year, noting any instances of failure to adhere to coherent governance principles, and adjusting its own process to make continuous improvement.
As part of board self-assessment, it may assign staff or consultants the task of providing feedback on board performance. Owner/community input can be solicited via surveys, observer feedback forms available at meetings, and linkage meetings. Customer feedback can also be solicited.
CEO evaluation provides an opportunity for dialogue about progress toward desired results, CEO compliance with means policy guidance, and board-CEO relations.
Evaluation of the organization (and the CEO) occurs at each meeting whenever monitoring of progress/performance according to policy guidance occurs, and adjustments may be made in the relevant policy at the next meeting.
Annual retreats and refresher training keeps board members knowledgeable of policy governance or coherent governance principles as well as essential new board member orientation and onboarding.
Systematic review of policy occurs through the annual agenda, but any of its governing policies can be the focus of a retreat, particularly after the first year of operating under a given model.