Is it correct that Policy Governance will not allow the board to get into operational means?
It depends on what you mean by “get into.” In Policy Governance, the board is in control of every possible aspect of organization except that which might in some cases be controlled by the ownership. But the board’s control is through expressing ends and limits on staff means, then demanding data to prove achievement and compliance. We’ve heard of a school board’s CEO who, upon being confronted by board interest in a report of unsafe buses, let the board know that was her territory, not the board’s. Assuming the board has, in an executive limitations policy, disallowed unsafe conditions, then the CEO may well be in violation of board policy. Board delegation to the CEO does not free the CEO from having to comply with relevant board policies. It does free the CEO from board intrusions that are not founded in board policy, the kind of capricious meddling that is not criterion-based.
