essentials

Policy Governance is an operating system for boards of directors. As with operating systems for computers, the system itself is not the point of the board’s work; the system simply provides an underlying framework on which boards can build further agreements and activities. Policy Governance does not mandate specific decisions, but does highlight the kinds of decisions a board should make. These decisions include agreements about how the board will work together, how the board will empower and hold accountable the cooperative’s management, how the board will articulate the cooperative’s purpose and set up the cooperative for movement in that direction, and how the board understands the role of member-owners and others in the governance of the cooperative.