Board Recruitment

Information Package

2009

Information included in Package
General information about the LNW Board of Directors
•Eligibility
•Board Expenses
•Time Commitment / Page 2
Literacy Northwest Mission and Vision Statements,
and the Roles of Literacy Northwest / Page 4
LNW Board Job Description / Page5
Policy Governance Information / Page6
Nomination Application Form / Page9

Prepared by the Literacy Northwest Board of Directors

Board Director Recruitment Information (2009)

Do you want to help shape the future of adult literacy in Northwestern Ontario?

Are you looking for a new experience?

Do you want to actively support and guide the work of the

region’s adult literacy network?

Literacy Northwest (LNW) is looking for enthusiastic and committed individuals who want to serve on the LNW Board of Directors.

What’s in it for you?

•An opportunity to meet and work with other people in the region.

•Share your expertise and develop new skills at the same time.

•Orientation to literacy and the workings of a regional network, and

•Orientation to Policy Governance (Carver Model) and ongoing support in carrying out your Board job.

Who are we looking for?

The LNW Board is looking for individuals who are:

•Committed to adult literacy in Ontario

•Interested in promoting the use of clear language

•Committed to the mission and vision of Literacy Northwest

•Team oriented and interested in meeting new people

•Willing to share their knowledge and expertise, and develop new skills

Who is eligible?

All members (individual, agency, corporateand associate)of LNW are eligible. If your agency is an LNW member, you are also eligible. (For Practitioners: For membership purposes, you do not currently need to be listed as the agency’s designated representative, however, your program coordinator needs to be made aware of your interest.)

Are there costs involved?

This is a volunteer position. Other than for membership fees (Individual-$25, Agency-$50, Corporate-$100, Associate-$25), LNW will reimburse all approved Board-related expenses as per the Board’s expense guidelines.

What is the time commitment?

•All terms are 2 years.

•Approximately 5 meetings per year

•2 face-to-face meetings (in conjunction with LNW Professional Development Sessions)

•2 – 3 meetings via teleconference or Centra

•Sub-committees are occasionally struck by the Board to address specific tasks, i.e. Board Professional Development, Executive Director Performance Evaluation, etc.

The Board of Directors will ideally be made up of:

•Individual Members

•Agency Members

•Corporate Members

•Associate Members

The Nominating Committee will prepare a slate of directors and will present it to the membership prior to the Annual General Meeting. All members can vote for the candidates on the slate.

Vacancies:

There will be 3 Board Vacancies to fill.

The Election Process:

•Elections will take place for all vacant Board positions at the Annual General Meeting that will take place in October 2009.*

•All nominations must be received in writing at the LNW office by June 10, 2009.

•Nominations from the floor at the AGM will not be accepted.

*As a prospective Board member, you must pay your own way to the AGM.

For more information about Literacy Northwest and this exciting opportunity, please see the attached documents:

•LNW Mission and Vision statements

•Policy Governance Information

•LNW Board Job Description

If you are interested in a position on the Board, please do the following:

  1. Complete the attached nomination form.
  2. Send the form to the LNW Nominating Committee by June 10, 2009via
  3. Email:
  4. Fax: (807) 622-5100
  5. Mail: #204 – 135 N. Syndicate Ave., Thunder Bay, ON P7C 3V6

Mission Statement:

To facilitate full access to quality adult literacy education in Northwestern Ontario.

Vision:

That people in Northwestern Ontario, who have literacy challenges, live full lives at home, at work and in their communities.

Roles of Literacy Northwest:

1.Support Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (TCU)-funded delivery agencies to deliver coordinated, quality LBS services responsive to emerging needs (identified by the community and government) within an integrated employment and training system.

2.Provide support for Ministry led initiative using a model of continuous improvement.

  1. Develop and provide accessible, quality resources that support TCU-funded agencies to deliver a quality LBS Program.
  1. Support professional development of TCU-funded agencies to effectively deliver the LBS Program.
  1. Support the production and integration of research and development results and products that are linked to and support the LBS Program.

Literacy Northwest Board Job Description

The purpose of the Board of Directors is to act on behalf of the moral ownership of Literacy Northwest. The moral ownership of Literacy Northwest is its membership.

The job of the Board is to represent the Literacy Northwest membership in determining and ensuring appropriate organizational performance.

Accordingly:

  1. The board will produce the link between the organization and the ownership.
  1. The board will produce written governing policies which, at the broadest levels, address each category of organizational decision.
  2. Ends: Organizational products, impacts, benefits, outcomes, recipients, and their relative worth (what good for which recipients at what cost).
  3. Executive Limitations: Constraints on executive authority that establish the prudence and ethics boundaries within which all executive activity and decisions must take place.
  4. Governance Process: Specification of how the board conceives, carries out and monitors its own work.
  5. Board-Staff Relationship: How power is delegated and its proper use monitored; the Executive Director role, authority and accountability.
  1. The board will produce assurance of Executive Director performance in compliance with policies 2a and 2b.
  1. The board will make operational decisions not delegated to the Executive Director.

Why Carver?

AnOverview

Written by Tamara Riddle (Kaattari) – Former Chair of Ontario Literacy Coalition

What is policy governance?

Policy governance is a method of governing an organization that is based on the development of policies. These policies identify the many ways in which a not-for-profit organization needs to show accountability. They also provide a framework for the Board of Directors to do its job.

The Board of Directors is ultimately accountable for the organization. But many Boards tend to be “hands on”. They actively manage the day-to-day business of the organization. But a policy governance Board identifies which policies need to be developed. It develops the policies, and then holds itself and staff responsible for doing business within these policies.

Why Carver?

The Carver model of governance is a policy governance model. How is it different from other models?

Under policy governance, a Board could choose to look at an organization’s or an Executive Director’s effectiveness. For instance, it might do this by making policies for how they handle finances or personnel issues or how they file needed papers with the government, or how they pay bills. Many Boards often do not get around to defining why the organization has all these policies.

John Carver asks a good question: When was the last time your Board sat around and talked only about literacy and how to make life better for people who have low literacy levels? Boards often spend a lot of time talking about staff pay, membership fees and which projects the ED should apply for. Are these really questions that a Board ought to deal with or are they questions that could be handled by an ED under suitable guidelines? John Carver wants Boards to focus only on the big picture and not get caught up in daily details.

Clarifying Responsibilities

Under the Carver model, the Board must monitor its own work and find out how well it is doing its job. This rarely happens under other governance models.

The Carver model works with four areas of policy. Two areas of policy describe how the Board needs to do its work (Governance Policies and Board-Staff Relationship). One area of policy talks about how the ED does his or her work (Executive Limitations). And the final area of policy is around what the Board thinks the organization should be achieving (Ends).

The Board must report on the two first areas of policy. The ED must report on the other two areas of policy (Executive Limitations and Ends).

It is not uncommon to find Boards that are doing the ED’s work – much to the dismay of the ED. And in doing so, these Boards ignore their own work – connecting with the moral ownership and monitoring the organization.

Connecting with the Moral Ownership

The Carver model assumes that all the individual directors and the whole Board as a unit represent a certain group of people. A Board of Directors has to decide who exactly that group is. This group is called the “moral ownership”. The group might be citizens of a particular geographical area. Or, if you are a membership organization, your moral ownership might be your members.

Under Carver, the Board’s role is to connect with this group. Under other models of governance, Boards rarely connect with their moral ownership in a meaningful way. They then run the risk that they no longer can be said to represent the group.

Monitoring

Many critics of the Carver model say that the Board loses control over the organization. This is an interesting critique because Boards rarely have the kind of control they think they have. For example, most “hands on” Boards do not even evaluate their ED on a regular basis. So how concerned can they really be said to be about performance?

Under Carver, the Board can develop as many policies as it feels it needs in order to be aware of, and accountable for, what is going on in the organization. Each policy can be stated to the depth the Board believes is necessary. The Board can also say how often it wants to hear about compliance with a particular policy.

Once the Board is done writing policies, it is up to the ED to interpret the policies and put them into motion. The Board evaluates the ED against these policies. This is a fair way to monitor because from the start the ED knows what he or she is going to be measured against.

What about a hybrid?

Some organizations try to make a balance between being a policy governance or Carver Board and being an operational or hands-on Board. This is not a very good idea. These styles are different in terms of delegation and responsibilities. Trying to be part one and part the other creates gaps in policy areas and confusion. This can lead to poor communication and lack of satisfaction on the part of staff and Board members.

What does this mean for Board meetings?

At meetings, the Board monitors the existing policies in terms of its own work and the ED’s work. It does not focus on what exactly the organization is doing and how it is doing it. This is left up to the ED. Ideally, the ED reports to the Board before the meetings and this report is addressed if there are questions.

At each Board meeting, a Carver Board will also receive education. This could take many forms. It could be an information session from members in the community, training in the Carver model, information on financial practices, or anything else that the Board thinks it needs to know about to do its job better.

The third component of a typical Board meeting is linking with the moral ownership. How does the Board intend to do this? How well is the Board doing this?

In general, Board meetings are shorter and more focused. There is greater emphasis on decision making/future planning.

In Conclusion

Moving to the Carver model is an important shift from the way that many Boards have historically worked. It can involve a fair amount of work to make the transition. But the rewards are well worth it. You can be clear about what skills you need at the Board table and recruit for them. As a Board, you will give very clear directions to your ED and very clear performance indicators. You have also given your ED the trust and flexibility to do what he or she has been hired to do.

The Board decides what the organization should achieve and the ED decides how to get the work done. The Board then monitors to make sure that the ED does, in fact, get the work done.

Nomination Application Form

Literacy Northwest Board of Directors

Instructions:

All parts of this form must be completed by all candidates.

If you are nominating someone else, please give the person this form to complete. If you are the nominee, please complete the form.

The information given in this form will be screened by the LNW Nomination Committee and arranged into Candidate Profiles. The Profiles will be sent to all members before the Annual General Meeting. This will provide members with information for making their voting decisions.

Please keep your information clear and brief. If you need more space, please attach any additional information.

All submissions must be received no later than June 12, 2009.

Board Nomination Application Form

All submissions must be received no later thanJune 12, 2009.

Name of Candidate: / Date Sent:
Home Address: / Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Work Address: / Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Please check the member category that you belong to:
___ Individual___ Agency___ Corporate___ Associate
List the top three reasons why you want to join the LNW Board of Directors.
1.
2.
3.
Tell us about your commitment to LNW’s mission and vision.
Tell us briefly about your past involvement with other Boards (Carver Model or others), councils, committees and other related activities.
What personal strengths would you bring to the LNW Board of Directors?
Tell us about your experience and interest in literacy.
Other Information:
Please provide 2 references:
1.Name:Contact Number:
2. Name:Contact Number:
Please print name here: / Please sign name here:
If you are applying from the Agency, Corporate or Associate category, please complete the following information:
Name of the Organization: / Affiliation with this Organization?
The name of the Designated Representative (as shown on the membership form). / Signature of Designated Representative:

All submissions must be received no later than June 12, 2009.

Send the completed form to the LNW Nominating Committee by:

  1. Email:
  2. Fax: (807) 622-5100
  3. Mail: #204 – 135 N. Syndicate Ave., Thunder Bay, ON P7C 3V6

LNW Board Recruitment Package (2008)Page 1 of 12