realizing the vision board governance revisited marion thomson howell shaughnessyhowell inc

Realizing the VisionBoard Governance Revisited

Marion Thomson Howell ShaughnessyHowell Inc.

www.shaughnessyhowell.com

Back to the Future


So, what’s our football?


#1: Governance is at its best when ….

Boards focus on doing their jobs and empower staff to do theirs.The delineation between the roles is clear and is respected.

The board is responsible for ...

Setting directionEnsuring structure and resources are in placeMonitoring


One of a new board’s first responsibilities is to review the financial situation of the Board. That

includes reviewing the budget

What does that

involve?


– Does it balance? (Are we in compliance?)– What assumptions did you hold when the budget was

created? (What drove this?)– How does the budget reflect our priorities for students? (Are

we mission-consistent?)– What services are we providing to which students at what

cost, and what are the benefits and results? (What is our return on investment?)

– What are the risks? (Are we being responsible stewards?)– If something happens and we have to cut, where would we

go? (Can we be nimble?)


– All Superintendents have met with principals to set targets for parent engagement

– 98% of school councils agendas have included parent engagement as a discussion item


You have just

received a monitoring report

“Students, parents and community partners are engaged as partners in student learning”

– “Your role in your child’s education: Guidelines for parents and guardians” support kits sent to every home

– Engagement added as a discussion item for all parent / teacher interviews

– 40% parents attended board-sponsored workshop that focused on ways they could get involved


Monitoring is board-driven. The focus is not to settle for reports of activity; the focus is to measure outcome.


Boards have great conversations and members are engaged … with the purpose of making better decisions.


You have asked for a presentationon leader development in yourboard. This is not a monitoringreport, but a report to help you

think about the issue so that you can make the best decisions in the future. You get a report that outlines the training opportunities the board and the province are offering and the number of staff who are taking advantage of them.


What questions will you

ask?

You have identified leadership and succession planning as important issues

for your board

– What does good leadership “look like” here?– What conditions will our leaders of the future need to

deal with and what skills will that take?– What would it take for us to become the board of choice

for new leaders? – We are a Catholic school board and tone at the top is

important. How does this plan ensure we are getting the kind of Catholic leaders we need?

– What is at stake? What is in place to manage the risk?



Governance is practiced as a team sport. Boards exercise collective influence; individuals do not hold power.

They also resist group think.



Board members encourage dissenting voices at the table. They get nervous when everyone thinks the same way on too many issues.


Boards expect the same level of excellence from themselves that they expect from the system they govern.



Effective governance practices change. Great boards ensure that all members are up-to-date.

So, now that we know that …


realizing the vision board governance revisited marion thomson howell shaughnessyhowell inc

Documents

board slide

board of choice

vision board governance

catholic school board

boardsponsored workshop

monitoring report students

parent engagement

place monitoring