Optimizing Policy Governance
Application in Higher Education Settings
• Jannice Moore
President
The Governance Coach™
• Vincent Vavrek
Chair, Board of Governors,
Grande Prairie Regional College
Sustainability Habits™ to Optimize
Application of Principles
•
•
•
•
Be owner accountable
Obsess on Ends
Lead with Excellence
Delegate & Monitor
• Plan Your Legacy Now
• Own Your Agenda
• Live the Policies
Be Owner-Accountable
• Identify the owners, differentiate from
stakeholders
• Remember that the board is accountable to the
owners
• Maintain a perpetual ownership linkage plan
• Maintain a perpetual board education plan to
ensure that you make the best decisions on
behalf of owners
GPRC Experience
• Differentiate owners and stakeholders
• Have an Ownership Linkage Policy
• Reviewed the policy recently
• Have a flexible plan
• Includes regularly scheduled meetings with
some of our owners
• Need clarity about owners vs. stakeholders
Tracking Ownership Linkage
Information
1. Details of information source.
2. How representative of our ownership is this
group or individual?
3. What insights have we gained from this
information?
Tracking Ownership Linkage
Information
4. Are there any cautions about how we should
generalize this information?
5. Does this information suggest the need for any
new Ends or Executive Limitations?
6. What further questions does it raise for future
exploration?
Obsess on Ends
• Include as a major component of every meeting
content relevant to Ends
• Streamline other processes, such as monitoring,
to maximize time available for Ends-related
work [This does not mean monitoring is
unimportant, just that it should be more
“homework” than use of meeting time.]
GPRC Ends
Mega-End
Grande Prairie Regional College exists so that:
People in the stewardship region and beyond have
opportunities to improve their lives and
communities at a cost that can be justified by the
results.
Next-Level Ends
(Increased Accessibility)
2. There will be Increased Accessibility to Post-
Secondary Education
2.1 Regionally accessible Degree completion.
2.2 Safe and affordable accommodation is available for
students who wish to live on campus.
2.3 Post-Secondary Education that is accessible to underrepresented groups.
Lead with Excellence
• Modify board size and length of tenure if it does
not support governance excellence
• Do not assign board committees responsibilities
in delegated areas, or strike committees that
negatively affect the board’s work as a whole
• Conduct regular board enrichment activities
Lead with Excellence (2)
• Differentiate decision-making, monitoring, and
incidental information
• Evaluate your governance performance
regularly against the criteria in your policies
GPRC Leading with Excellence Practices
• Board Enrichment Activities
• Board Education Plan
• Board Committee Structure
• Audit Committee
• Compliance and Continuity
Committee
Audit Committee Terms of Reference
1 Deliverables
1.1 Liaison with the auditor on behalf of Board,
including review of the annual audit plan and
receipt of audit findings.
1.2 Assessment every four months, on behalf of the
Board, of management’s response to the
recommendations of the Office of the Auditor
General.
1.3 An annual assessment for the Board as to
compliance by the President with criteria
specified in Executive Limitations policies on
finance.
Audit Committee Terms of Reference
1.4 A self-monitoring report on the appropriateness
of the Board’s own spending, based on criteria
in the Board GP policy on Board expenses,
including periodic random audit of the Board
members’ expense accounts.
1.5
An annual report to the Board highlighting the
committee’s review of the audited financial
statements and any other significant
information arising from their discussions with
the external auditor.
Audit Committee Terms of Reference
Authority
2.1 The committee has no authority to change
or contravene Board policies.
2.2 The committee has authority to spend
funds required for travel to meetings if
meetings are required. No authority to
spend or commit other organization funds.
2.3 The committee has authority to use staff
resource time normal for administrative
support around meetings.
Audit Committee Terms of Reference
2.4 The Committee does not have authority to
instruct the President or any other staff
member, other than to request information
required in the conduct of its duties.
2.5 The Committee has the authority to meet
independently with the external auditors.
Audit Committee Terms of Reference
3. Composition
3.1 The Committee shall be composed of three public Board
members selected by the Board of Governors, one of
whom shall be appointed by the Committee as Chair. At
least two of the Board members on the Committee will be
able to understand basic financial statements, and have
sufficient understanding to ask appropriate questions of
the Auditor. The Chair of the Board and President shall
serve as ex-officio members.
3.2The President shall designate appropriate administrative
staff to serve as resource to the Committee.
Audit Committee Terms of Reference
4.
Term of Office
4.1 Members shall be appointed for a 2 year
term, which may be renewed at the pleasure of
the Board.
4.2 Appointments to the Committee will be
staggered to provide for continuity.
Compliance and Continuity Committee
1.Deliverables
1.1 Assist the Board in ensuring compliance with the Alberta
Public Agencies Governance Act (APAGA) by advising the
Board of necessary action
1.2 Provide for the Board’s decision suggested principles for
CEO recruitment, retention and remuneration
1.3 Provide for the Board’s decision suggested principles for
Board recruitment, remuneration, performance and
succession planning
1.4 All other priorities identified by the Board in relation to
APAGA
Delegate and Monitor
• Delegate clearly only through written policy
• Streamline Executive Limitations to avoid
including board “preferences” and to empower
the CEO to be creative in finding the best
possible means to achieve Ends
• Demand organizational performance, and
expect clear, substantiated CEO interpretations
and evidence of policy compliance
Evaluating the CEO
The board monitors organizational performance
through a fair but systematic assessment of
whether a reasonable interpretation of its Ends
policies is being achieved and a reasonable
interpretation of its Executive Limitations policies
is being avoided. If there is a CEO, this constitutes
the CEO's evaluation.
Monitoring the CEO at GPRC
• What do we expect in a monitoring report?
• Interpretations with metrics (can be
measured)
• Evidence
• Scope of external audit
• Using the Required Approvals Agenda for items
required to approve by law such as budget and
Comprehensive Institutional Plan
Board Self-Evaluation
• Evaluation tools at each meeting
• Governance Coach comments on each meeting
• Annual review of skill set matrix for each board
member
• Check-list tool used annually at retreat
• Self-assessment of board compliance with every
GP and BPR policy throughout the year
Own Your Agenda
• Lead the CEO, not vice-versa – board
generates governance issues for the agenda
• Develop and be accountable for your own
“governance” budget
• Design a perpetual future-focused board
agenda cycle
Perpetual
Ownership
Linkage
Environmental
Scan
Enriched
Board
Information
FutureFocused
Ends
Governance
Process
(Means)
Monitoring
PAST
PRESENT
FUTURE
FutureFocused Board
Meeting
Month
Owner Linkage
Board
Education
Ends dialogue
or decision
Effective Meetings
Dialogue in the Board Room
• It all starts with conduct
• Complete focus on “Ends”
• Stick to Principles
• Efficiency
• Refer to the Policies
Live the Policies
• Keep policies a living document – check them
against board worries, environmental changes,
and consistency with Policy Governance
principles
• Document board decisions by amending policies
• Scrupulously follow your policies until such time
as you decide to change them
• Stick to the principles when the going gets rough
The Environmental Context for Policy:
Trends, Issues and Politics
• Politics
• Social Policy
• Fiscal Reality
• Public Accountability
• Governance at the Intersection
Plan Your Legacy Now
• Develop a governance succession plan to enable
sustainable governance excellence
• Educate candidates for board positions about
the commitment required and the board’s
approach to governance
GPRC Board Orientation Process
• Educate candidates for board positions about
the commitment required and the board’s
approach to governance
• Orient new board members to Policy
Governance as early as possible in their tenure
The Succession Plan – GPRC Policy
In keeping with the Board’s commitment to
excellence in governance, the Board shall strive to
recommend candidates to the Minister for
appointment of public Board members to the
Board of Governors so that the Board’s ability to
govern will be enhanced to the highest degree
possible.
GPRC Policy (continued)
1. The Board will identify the needs of the Board,
and maintain an appropriate matrix to assess
Board member competencies and profiles.
2. Prospective candidates will be encouraged to
apply through the public process.
3. The Board will review the list resulting from the
Ministry’s public advertisement and meet with
the short-listed candidates.
GPRC Policy (continued)
4. Recommended candidates will have
characteristics that will enable them to
govern, not to manage, the College,
including:
• [see list of characteristics on competency profile]
GPRC Policy (continued)
5.
Candidates recommended will be chosen to
ensure that the Board as a whole reflects, to a
reasonable extent, the diversity of the
ownership served by Grande Prairie
Regional College.
6.
The Board will recommend, through the
Chair, candidates for the Minister’s
consideration
Selecting Board Members
Competency Profile
(qualifications may include but are not limited to the following competencies)
1. Demonstrates an appreciation for the
Vision, Mission and Values of GPRC
2. A significant positive profile within the
Region and be connected to stakeholder
groups
3. Ability to identify and pursue financial
opportunities for the College well-being
4. A demonstrated business acumen
5. Knowledge and understanding of Policy
Governance
6. A demonstrated understanding of the
time commitment
7. Demonstrated community service
8. Demonstrated strategic thinker, focused
on ends
9. Strong ambassadorship abilities
10. An appreciation for the educational
process
11. Ability to access the political process
12. Demonstrates support for an appropriate
representation of the region
13. Team Building and relationship skills