When I left my denomination to plant an independent church, I was determined to have the minimum of committees and unnecessary unproductive meetings. My previous denomination had a beautiful structure of councils and committees at various levels of authority. Between the meetings of these groups and the communication of the decisions of these groups, there was a lot of work being done that contributes little to the core business of the church which is to make disciples and preach the Good News.

John Carver is an expert in the leadership of non-profit organisations and other community groups. He argues for a model of governance in which the Board (the generic term he uses for the leadership group of an organisation) sets the minimum boundaries for itself which will ensure that the interests of the “owners” are preserved while pursuing their vision. Everything else is delegated to the management via a CEO or equivalent.

Carver argues that most CEO’s will feel empowered by a Board that sets them free to be creative in the way that they pursue the mission of the organisation without having a Board breathing down their neck and second guessing their decisions.

In Carver’s model, which he calls Policy Governance, boards should concern themselves with 4 areas in the life of the organisation:

1. Ends Policies- that is what the organisation is here for . What is the vision of the organisation? What difference will we make in the world? In broad terms, how do we get there?
2. Executive Limitations Policies- what is not OK in pursuing our vision? Can the CEO break the law in order to make things happen? Can we run a sweat shop as a fund raiser?
3. Board- Management Policies- how do the board relate to management and vice versa?
4. Governance Process Policies- these are decisions about how the board goes about doing its own job.

These policies are written down and can be set out in a page or so of narrative.

In this approach, the Board goes about setting the “big picture” parameters of the organisation instead of getting bogged down in finances, HR policies, and all of the other things that get boards and committees bogged down. Everything else is passed down to management to control.

What I like about this book is that it pursues a minimalist vision for governance that can be adapted to a wide range of different groups. It is almost a universal model for governance. For churches, this fits in with the apostolic model that emphasises the gifting of pastors and other leaders, while allowing for oversight and correction where things go off track.

“Boards That Make A Difference” is well argued and is readable. The topic might seem dry and uninteresting, but to everyone who is involved in leading organisations, it will be inspiring.

Carver has also written a book about how to implement this Policy Governance model, “Reinventing Your Board.” I look forward to getting onto that and thinking about the organisations that I am involved with.