Board leadership requires, above all, that the Board provide vision. To do so, the Board must first have an adequate vision of its own job. That role is best conceived neither as volunteer-helper, nor as watchdog, but as trustee-owner. Policy Governance is an approach to the job of governing that emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both Board and management, and the strategic ability to lead leaders.

Fare Share Co-op Board of Directors adopted Policy Governance in August 2002, spent one year crafting most of the policies, and began implementation of them in June 2003. By observing the principles of the Policy Governance model, the Board crafted its values into policies of the four types below. Policies written this way have enabled the Board to focus its vision into one central document.

Click here to read the 2006 Policy Governance Register.

Ends
The Board has defined which human needs are to be met, for whom, and at what cost. Written with a long-term perspective, these mission-related policies embody most of the Board's long-range planning.

Executive Limitations
The Board established the boundaries of acceptability within which management methods and activities can responsibly be left to the General Manager. These limiting policies, therefore, apply to means rather than to ends.

Board-General Manager Linkage
The Board clarified the manner in which it delegates authority to the General Manager, as well as how it evaluates the General Manager's performance on provisions of the Ends and Executive Limitations policies.

Board Process
The Board determined its philosophy, its accountability, and specifics of its own job.

Board Leadership: Policy Governance in Action, John Carver ed., No. 52

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Policy Governance Defined