John Carver (board policy)

John Carver is an author noted for his development of the policy model for boards of directors called Policy Governance. Carver states his model is the only systematic theory of boards. He is Adjunct Professor of Nonprofit Organizations in the Institute for Nonprofit Organizations at the University of Georgia School of Social Work.

Development of model

Early in his career, Carver searched for a reliable guide to managing the work of a board. His research turned up little on the proper role of the board of directors.

Carver noticed that board members often wonder what the board's job is and where the line distinguishing the Boards job for that of the Chief Executive Officer lies. Carver's model clarifies the separation by having the board explicitly state the Boards and CEO's jobs in a set of written policies (hence the name 'Policy Governance').This set of policies is divided in four types of policies. One type is about the organizations goals (or Ends), and three of them are about the means board and CEO employ to attain those ends.

It is a common misunderstanding that in Policy Governance it is the board's job to decide the goals and the Chief Executive Officer's job to determine the means to achieve the board's ends. Both board and CEO decide goals (Ends) and means, but in the written policies by the board, it is explicitly stated where the room for interpretation of the CEO of the boards' ends statements...
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