Policy Governance Model and the Role of the Board Member

The Carver Policy Governance Guide series includes six booklets that offer board members a description of John Carver's Policy Governance model of board leadership. Policy Governance enables a board to fulfill its accountability to its organization's "owners," whether the owners are association members, city residents, company shareholders, or a community of interest. Policy Governance addresses the board's engagement in financial, programmatic, and personnel matters; roles of officers and committees; reporting and evaluation; agendas; and other aspects of the board job.

Implementing Policy Governance and Staying on Track shows boards how they can apply the principles of the Policy Governance model and change the way they govern in practice. The guide cuts across various aspects of the Policy Governance model and challenges board members to move from concepts to practice.

The Policy Governance model is based on the functions rather than the structure of a governing board. It outlines commonsense principles about governing that fit together into an entire system. The practices of the Policy Governance board, which are consistent with the principles, allow it to control without meddling, focus on long-term organizational outputs, powerfully delegate to a CEO and staff, and discharge its fiduciary responsibility in a visionary, strategic manner. Because the model is a total system, the Carver Policy Governance Guide series offers boards a complete set of principles for fulfilling their various obligations.

John Carver is internationally known as the creator of the breakthrough in board leadership called the Policy Governance model and is the best-selling author of Boards ThatMake a Difference (1990, 1997, 2006). He is co-editor (with his wife, Miriam Carver) of the bimonthly periodical Board Leadership, author of over 180 articles published in nine countries, and author or co-author of six books. For over thirty years, he has worked internationally with governing boards, his principal practice being in the United States and Canada. Dr. Carver is an editorial review board member of Corporate Governance: An International Review, adjunct professor in the University of Georgia Institute for Nonprofit Organizations, and formerly adjunct professor in York University’s Schulich School of Business.

Miriam Carver is a Policy Governance author and consultant. She has authored or co-authored over forty articles on the Policy Governance model and co-authored three books, including Reinventing Your Board and The Board Member’s Playbook. She has worked with the boards of nonprofit, corporate, governmental, and cooperative organizations on four continents. Ms. Carver is the co-editor of the bimonthly periodical Board Leadership and, with John Carver, trains consultants in the theory and implementation of Policy Governance in the Policy Governance Academy.