FRS Governance- In Transition
Please Join Our Conversation
By Annie Madden, Parish Committee Chair 2010-2011
After spending the church year of 2009-10 studying and agreeing to move forward with a transition to policy based governance, the Parish Committee began planning for this year’s work on policy development at a retreat in June, 2010.
We are excited to move towards new governance structure for several reasons. Growing church communities such as ours often look to a new governance models when it becomes difficult for a group of lay leaders to effectively manage all the vibrant and varied programs that comprise a more complex church organization. Policy based governance frees the Parish Committee, our church’s governing board, from day to day management of this growing complexity and a resultant focus on minutia, allowing it to focus the largest part of its attention to planning for the future and ensuring that we work toward achievement of our mission. At the same time, policy based governance affords freedom for staff and lay leadership to make day to day management decisions efficiently and effectively, within given policy based guidelines. We believe that this governance change will improve daily functioning of our growing church organization, and will keep our eyes focused on the future of our church and achievement of its mission.
At the Parish Committee retreat in June 2010, we agreed to focus much of our collective energy in the 2010-2011 church year, creating a fundamental group of high level policies that will create the basis for a new way doing the church’s business. We want the Parish Committee’s role to shift from an emphasis on managing the day to day affairs of the church, to a role which makes time for a broader, more visionary way of thinking, that is future focused. While the Parish Committee would retain overall responsibility, including financial responsibility for our church affairs, the job of running the day to day business of the church and many management decisions will be delegated to our highly competent staff and lay leadership, with guidelines and boundaries set forth in policy by the Parish Committee. A policy is a written statement designed to guide many decisions over time, and it is the primary way that the Parish Committee (the FRS’s governing board) exercises its guidance.
Having studied the policy approach to governance as detailed by Dan Hotchkiss in his book, Governance and Ministry- Rethinking Board Leadership, we agreed to follow his recommended path for policy development. He suggests that policies be developed in five broad areas: Governance, Discernment, Strategy, Management and Oversight, and he recommends that the first to be taken on include Governance, Management and Oversight.
Our policy development process begins with a careful discussion of values that we seek to have reflected in our policies. From there, policy drafting is done by Parish Committee members or teams of members, and brought back to the full Parish Committee for first and second readings. So far this year, we have agreed to a board covenant, which states how we as a board agree to work with each other over time, and we have developed policies on governance philosophy and board or Parish Committee self governance. In the area of management, we have begun work on policies regarding delegation to staff, powers reserved to the Parish Committee, care for people, and care for staff. This work will continue through the spring, at which point we hope to have the skeleton of high level policies in place.
The Parish Committee, Governance Subcommittee and Senior Staff, are excited to learn about and work towards this more effective model for church governance. We have had very compelling discourse regarding how policy based governance can help our church move effectively towards achievement of our mission and vision. We realize that it is now time to invite the larger church leadership and membership into discussion with us. We are still in the relatively early stages of moving towards a new governance model, and it is time for us to work with the larger community to strengthen our plan.
As is recommended by Hotchkiss, we hope to have a skeleton of policies completed by June 2011, which we can begin to implement on a trial basis in the following church year. We expect to learn much as we go along. Hotchkiss advises postponing recommendations regarding needed by-law changes until the end of the trial year, during which time we can fine tune new processes. Our Governance Subcommittee will continue to operate in an advisory way during this time, communicating with the congregation, drafting by-law amendments, and making recommendations for eventual by-law changes at a congregational meeting in the Spring of 2012.
What do we need now to sustain and enhance our work in governance change? We invite all who are interested to join us in exploring the future of governance change here at the FRS. We want to hear from you about your experiences as active members of our society. What are you looking for in your church leadership and management? We look forward to a more broadly based conversation with input and support from all that are interested. We plan on hosting several governance discussions after church in February and March. We welcome your questions and participation.
Reflections from church leaders who have adopted policy based governance:
“It frees boards to stop being bogged down in day-to-day decisions, and from making decisions that really should be made by staff. Meetings are about planning and goals. It’s been incredibly freeing.”
Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs, co minister Unity Church, St. Paul
“Policy Governance frees all levels of leadership to fulfill their focused roles. It allows a board to safely empower others and to delegate, insofar as possible, whole jobs. I’d call it shared ministry in the most luminous meaning of that phrase.”
Rev. Marge Keip
