Policy Governance Offers New Approach for Boards

There was a time when, if there was a problem to be solved at the UU Congregation of Columbia, Md. (325 members), all eyes turned toward the governing board. Whatever the issue, everyone expected the board to fix it. And the board was struggling. Meetings accomplished little as members wrestled with all the details of a growing congregation. Says Rich Dean, board president, “We would elect enthusiastic new members but they would burn out and leave. And all the hopes and dreams of our community were getting channeled through a monthly board meeting. It was insane!”

To remove itself from day-to-day business, the board investigated a process called Policy Governance and two years ago began to implement it. Now, instead of everything coming to the board, there’s also an “A-team,” (Administration) composed of the minister, administrator, director of religious education, and two lay leaders to make management decisions. Board meetings have not exceeded two-and-a-half hours and there’s more focus on the “big picture.” Says Columbia’s the Rev. Paige Getty, “This board devotes time in almost every meeting to the congregation’s vision. It feels like we’re doing real ministry. And I find it deeply inspiring.”

What is Policy Governance? It’s a fundamental redesign of the role of a board. It calls on a board to focus on the organization’s vision and goals rather than minutia, and to give staff more freedom in making decisions. The concept was developed and trademarked by business consultant John Carver over the past three decades. Various forms of Policy Governance have been adopted by public and nonprofit boards since then.

The Rev. Margaret Keip is among the UUA’s strongest advocates of Policy Governance. Interest in it is growing, she says, although the number of congregations using it is probably under 50. Occasional workshops at General Assembly on this topic generally fill up, and she gets many inquiries about it. It is most needed by churches experiencing growth surges, she says.

Unity Church-Unitarian, St. Paul, Minn. (758), adopted a form of Policy Governance a dozen years ago. “It frees boards to stop being bogged down in day-to-day decisions,” says the Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs, cominister, “and from making decisions that really should be made by staff. Meetings are about planning and goals. It’s been incredibly freeing.”

Congregations using some form of policy governance include First UU Society of San Francisco, Calif. (502), First Unitarian, Dallas, Tex. (810), First Unitarian Church, Portland, Ore. (988). All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, D.C. (378), Towson UU Church, Lutherville, Md. (368), and the UU Church of Spokane, Wash. (329).

Here are the basic principles of Policy Governance:

The governing board shifts away from hands-on, day-to-day management and focuses on articulating vision, comprehensive policy-making, and oversight.

Staff and volunteers are empowered to make day-to-day decisions. The board controls staff not by telling them how to do their jobs, but by setting boundaries and allowing staff to design their work within those boundaries.

Should you consider Policy Governance? If your governing board agendas are overloaded, there’s unclear accountability, and your meetings are interminable, those are good clues,” says Keip. “Policy Governance frees all levels of leadership to fulfill their focused roles. It allows a board to safely empower others and to delegate, insofar as possible, whole jobs. I’d call it shared ministry in the most luminous meaning of that phrase.”

RESOURCES
For more information: www.uua.org/interconnections/policy.