Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series) [Hardcover]

John Carver (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787976164 | ISBN-13: 978-0787976163 | Publication Date: February 24, 2006 | Edition: 3

In this revised and updated third edition, Carver continues to debunk the entrenched beliefs and habits that hobble boards and to replace them with his innovative approach to effective governance. This proven model offers an empowering and fundamental redesign of the board role and emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both the board and staff, and strategic ability to lead leaders. Policy Governance gives board members and staff a new approach to board job design, board-staff relationships, the role of the chief executive, performance monitoring, and virtually every aspect of the board-management relationship. This latest edition has been updated and expanded to include explanatory diagrams that have been used by thousands of Carver's seminar participants. It also contains illustrative examples of Policy Governance model policies that have been created by real-world organizations. In addition, this third edition of Boards That Make a Difference includes a new chapter on model criticisms and the challenges of governance research.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"John Carver is a revolutionary of the very best kind. Carver's Policy Governance model has provided the means for trustees to live out Greenleaf's challenge to boards to act as both servant and leader."
--Larry C. Spears, CEO, The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership; editor, Reflections on Leadership, Insights on Leadership, Servant Leadership, The Power of Servant Leadership; co-editor, Practicing Servant Leadership and Focus on Leadership

"It took an inspired social scientist to record and describe the fundamental principles of [the Policy Governance] model, which provides deep insight into the role of the Board in the modern corporation."
--Jeremy Booker, vice president corporate governance, British Petroleum, London

"Dr. Carver’s governance model has been the key in empowering the State Bar of California Board of Governors to focus on policy that would help our judicial system."
--Andrew J. Guilford, 1999-2000 president, State Bar of California

"An indispensable guidebook to leadership excellence."
--George Weber, executive director, Canadian Dental Association, Ottawa; former secretary general, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva

"Boards That Make a Difference explicates the model, which is simple, powerful and, above all, successful."
—W. H. Hann, former executive director, Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia

"This book's sound premises regarding proper role delineation and its practical advice provide an invaluable resource."
--Dr. John R. Seffrin, CEO, American Cancer Society, Atlanta

"Dr. Carver offers a visionary yet practical approach to governance design."
--Adalberto Palma Gómez, senior partner, Aperture S.C.; former director, Institute for the Protection of Bank Savings; chairman, Center for Excellence in Corporate Governance, Mexico City

"Policy Governance gives governing bodies and CEOs a clear insight into their mutual relationship and their distinct responsibilities."
--Jacques Gerards, CEO, Dutch Association of Governors in Health Care, The Netherlands

From the Inside Flap

In this revised and updated third edition, Carver continues to debunk the entrenched beliefs and habits that hobble boards and to replace them with his innovative approach to effective governance. This proven model offers an empowering and fundamental redesign of the board role and emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both the board and staff, and strategic ability to lead leaders. Policy Governance gives board members and staff a new approach to board job design, board-staff relationships, the role of the chief executive, performance monitoring, and virtually every aspect of the board-management relationship. This latest edition has been updated and expanded to include explanatory diagrams that have been used by thousands of Carver's seminar participants. It also contains illustrative examples of Policy Governance model policies that have been created by real-world organizations. In addition, this third edition of Boards That Make a Difference includes a new chapter on model criticisms and the challenges of governance research.

Boards That Make a Difference can help your board empower both board and staff, eliminate trivia, establish a meaningful organizational direction, clarify roles, plan productive meetings, establish officers and committees that work, and provide the leadership for which governing boards exist.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 3 edition (February 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787976164
• ISBN-13: 978-0787976163
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Nonprofit Organizations & Charities

More About the Author

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 12, 2011

By 

Matt Ferry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series) (Hardcover)

As a first time board member at our church (and now board president), I'm relying heavily on a few books on the subject of non-profit and church governance. I wish I had read this one first. It shows with painful clarity how we're doing everything wrong, and that doing things right would be both a tremendous gift to our community and a fairly reasonable achievement to pull off in a few years. Some tweaks are needed to make this model work for a church, but those tweaks aren't a big deal and are described elsewhere (Hotchkiss is good). This is written so those brand new to governance work can go out and implement the model.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Carver - Books on Non-Profit Boards, September 5, 2009

By 

Frank Mundo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series) (Hardcover)

This book is one of those books that has so much valuable material... that if you've checked it out of the library... you are likely to go out and purchase a copy so you'll have it around permanently to refer to.
If you are interested in re-inventing your board, want to focus on vision and get away from administrivia.. this book offers the direction on how to do it. Carver is the major player is making boards effective contributors to organizations, of defining what governance is and how to get there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dysfunctional Board Control, August 11, 2011

By 

John W. Pearson "John Pearson Associates" (San Clemente, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series) (Hardcover)

If you want to spark some healthy conflict in your next conversation with nonprofit CEOs or senior pastors, throw this verbal grenade into the discussion: "Hey! What do you all think about policy governance?"

According to Policy Governance Guru John Carver, "Governing by policy means governing out of policy in the sense that no board activity takes place without reference to policies. Most resolutions in board meetings will be motions to amend the policy structure in some way. Consequently, policy development is not an occasional board chore but its chief occupation."

I mention this because I consult frequently with nonprofit boards--and conduct governance webinars and workshops in North America and overseas. And even though the majority of boards I work with say they function as "policy governance" boards, I don't believe them--because their micro-managing practices are so blatant.

For example, consider John Carver's insight on what he calls the flaws of "The Approval Syndrome." They include: reactivity, sheer volume of material, mental misdirection, letting staff off the hook, unfairly putting staff on the hook, short-term bias, lack of clarity in the board's contribution, and fragmentation ("a sequence of disconnected and unmanageably voluminous vertical slices of the whole...instead of a holistic, manageable fabric of horizontally connected policies").

He adds, "We all profess that boards should deal with the big picture, but it is difficult to picture the forest by inspecting one tree at a time."

One of my favorite Carver counter-intuitive commentaries describes what happens when a board delivers a "vote of confidence" for the CEO during a crisis situation.

In this excellent policy governance bible, he writes, "Curiously, there are times when the board goes through the approval process not intending to withhold authority from the CEO but to confirm it. A board might declare its supports for the CEO by cloaking some controversial executive decision with the prestige of the boardroom. Board motivation is usually expressed thus: `We want the staff (or others) to know the board is really behind the CEO on this.' As long as the board and CEO understand that the decision is truly the CEO's, this approval not only seems harmless but appears to be a healthy show of solidarity."

Then Carver adds this zinger. "However, such a gesture of board support is called for only if the board has been sending weak signals about the nature of delegation. This kind of support is rarely warranted if the board has made it clear to all that all CEO decisions that are within board-stated bounds are always supported by the board. Official support of a specific action implies that such sporadic backup is necessary, or conversely, that the general philosophy of delegation is weak."

Carver notes--in his massive 340-page hardback, with another 80 pages of resources and references--that "Board approvals are an unnecessary and dysfunctional method of board control, then, regardless of the ubiquity of the practice." He goes on--in succeeding chapters--to build the case for "a more proactive, fair, and detrivializing approach to fulfilling the board's moral and legal obligation to control the organization."

If no one on the senior team or board of your nonprofit organization or church is familiar with Carver's brand of policy governance (he invented the term), this is the starting point. Whether you agree or disagree that this board approach is right for your organization, it's important to understand the continuum of choices available--and to seek consensus on defining your current reality and where your preferred governance future lies. Interestingly, the book includes an excellent "ends" policy (a big Carver term) from Lancaster County Bible Church.

Note: If 340 pages are a tad too much for you, Carver has a series of booklets, focusing on niche policy governance issues. Another option is to check out the "lean and mean" approach, favored by many including myself, of a 10- to 15-page Board Policies Manual, as described in the book, Good Governance for Nonprofits: Developing Principles and Policies for an Effective Board, by Frederic L. Laughlin and Robert C. Andringa.