Board/Staff Relationships Policy
whgha
4 Posts
I need to revise a Board member/staff relationship policy...anyone have a sample they are willing to share?
whgha
4 Posts
Comments
Are you asking about the business relationship and functions or is this more along the lines of a social relationship?
Yes, the business relationships. We have a current policy that talks about separate and distinct roles, where Board should not use their influence over staff and staff should not circumvent policies by going to a Board member. But the policy needs revised to be fair on both sides.
I would start with clarifying the chain of command, which usually has the CEO/President/Exec Dir reporting to the Chairman of the board. In some companies, you may have finance or audit committees at the board level with dotted lines to the appropriate slot in the company's employee pyramid. But those are only dotted lines, reporting lines go through the EE pyramid.
The Board only gives direction to the EEs through clearly recognized channels, usually with a formal resolution establishing the reporting lines. Those channels oridinarily involve the chairman of the board giving direction to the Exec Dir.
In our shop, we have an open door policy in the EE pyramid, but do not formally allow EEs to deal directly with the board, unless there is formal grievance, in which case a whole new set of procedures kicks in. We also have prohibitions with respect to doing business with the board, but do allow donations (we are a non-profit) of goods and services.
Finally, one of the most important thing you can do is to clarify the role of the board of directors. I like to think of them as the keepers of the vision while the EEs do the implementation.