| This governance principle has its root in the Old and New Testament. The basic "job description" of every human being has two components: Love God and Love your neighbor. Here God gives us a great deal of freedom to choose how we will fulfill our responsibilities. Instead of requiring us to come back again and again for permission for all of life's decisions, He gives ten straightforward limitations: the Ten Commandments. They are stated in the negative, and they define our freedom.
The first three Commandments relate to our responsibility to love God. The other seven refer to the limitations placed upon us in loving our neighbor. As long as we stay within the limitations expressed in the Ten Commandments, we are free to pursue our love for God and our love for our neighbor as we wish.
Governing boards will achieve far more if they follow God's example of delegating authority with limitations that produces freedom to fulfill responsibilities.
It is frequently the case, however, that board members bring their management experience into the board room instead of their experience of parenting or memories of being parented. That is why boards fall naturally into the bad habit of making management decisions instead of setting governing policies that define the strategic objectives and the limitations of the authority they delegate to their CEO.
Many boards begin life as advisory boards. They act as "cheerleaders" and in some cases don't even make management decisions. This is particularly true when a founder recruits his/her personal friends as a founding board. In these cases, the boards may rubber stamp decisions that the founder has already made. After all, he/she knows more about it anyway.
As boards mature and the organization grows, the board may take on more management responsibility. There comes a point in this stage of an organization's growth and development where growth cannot progress further. The board simply can't handle the volume of information or decisions required, given the time they have as volunteers. It is at this point that a board is well advised to make the transition to becoming a governing board.
The board does this by creating policies to define the desired strategic results and by delegating the authority and the responsibility to the CEO to achieve them within the limitations of authority and available resources.
The Relationship Model™ was developed to apply God's design of relationships to the governance of faith-based non-profit organizations. You may learn more about this model of governance, leadership and management by visiting relationshipmodel.com.
Les Stahlke, President
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