6.3 Policies for organisations
- What are policies?
- What do policies do?
- Your governance policies
- Making policies
- Reviewing policies
- Developing your governance policy manual
- The benefits of having governance policies
What are policies?
Policies are types of rules that set out:
- what an organisation wants to achieve—for example, its vision and goals
- the structure for how it wants to achieve its goals, ensuring consistency and accountability
There are two types of policies:
Procedures are different. They involve the ‘how to’ of carrying out policies.
What do policies do?
Decisions should be based on established policies.
In other words, board policies are the board’s collective voice. Board decisions are policy decisions. Only decisions made by the board as a whole are binding.
Put simply—the board should develop policy; and management should implement it.
Your governance policies
The governing body must develop a set of governance and leadership policies. These set out how they will conduct their business and the proper operation of their organisation.
They should cover these areas:
See: Resource 6.2 Check-up—Our governance policies and rules
Making policies
Policy making is a skill and can be learned. Organisations should give new directors training on how to make policies as part of their induction.
Policies need to be workable and fair, and easily understood.
The governing body is responsible for making and adopting policies, but they won’t be supported if:
- their members or the community do not understand them
- they have not had the chance to contribute to its development
- it doesn’t reflect broadly held values
Steps to develop good policies
Every community and organisation has its own ways of developing policies, focusing on issues that matter most to them. But there are some common steps you can follow.
If you want to develop new governance policies for your organisation, several websites have sample governance policies especially designed for and by Indigenous groups, organisations and governments. They may not be exactly what you need but they may give you more ideas.
See: Resource 6.3 What can we do?—Steps to develop effective policies
Sample governance policies
- Institute on Governance, Canada: Sample Governance Policies covering all the main areas of governance.
- Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development has a publications section where you will find examples of policies.
- Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of British Columbia
- Community Net Aotearoa has a variety of 'How To' guides, templates and examples of policies.
- ourcommunity.com.au has a variety of resources and example policies.
What’s in a policy?
A governance policy usually contains:
- A purpose statement, outlining why the organisation is issuing the policy and what it should achieve.
- An applicability and scope statement, describing who the policy affects and what will be affected by the policy. This statement may include or exclude certain people, organisations, behaviours or activities from the policy requirements.
- An effective date stating when the policy begins.
- A policy statement setting out the specific guideline, regulation, requirement, or modification to people’s and organisational behaviour that the policy is trying to enforce.
- A review and evaluation statement explaining when and how the policy may need to be assessed.
- A complaints statement setting out the process for how complaints about the content of the policy will be handled, its implementation or impact.
- A communications statement about how the policy will be communicated to staff, members, the wider community.
- A roles and responsibilities section, stating which people or sections of the organisation are responsible for carrying out particular policy statements.
- A definitions section providing clear meanings for terms and concepts in the policy document.
Many Indigenous governance policies contain extra sections:
- Background explaining the reasons and history that led to the creation of the policy.
- The cultural basis and context for the policy, setting out the cultural values, customs, behaviours or goals which the policy recognises and is supporting, protecting, regulating or limiting.
- A cultural enforcement statement setting out mechanisms that may help governing members, management and staff to better implement and enforce the policy.
The Policy Template shows how the information above can be set out.
See: Resource 6.4 Template—A policy
Reviewing policies
Governing bodies should also discuss policy issues at their meetings and regularly review them. This means the policies stay current and reflect any changes within the organisation and community.
The review process needs to be clear and include wide consultation (especially with members and other people affected by it) giving everyone the chance to provide feedback.
Developing your governance policy manual
Governance policies should be written down in a governance policy manual or document that is freely available to members and staff of the organisation and other people.
It doesn’t need to be complicated or full of technical jargon. It should be written in plain language that everyone on the governing body and in the organisation can understand.
The benefits of having governance policies
Everyone benefits by having governance policies, including:
- members because they know what to expect from the leaders of their organisation
- staff because they have clear goals to work towards
- managers because they have a clear set of powers to work under
- board members because they have a way of communicating their values and vision
- others because they know what the organisation is all about
- Adapted from: Community Net Aotearoa
See: Resource 6.5 Tips—The benefits of having governance policies
See: Resource 6.6 Quiz—Do this quiz to check your understanding of what you have learnt in this chapter.
Read next: 7. Management and staff
Read previous: 6.2 Where does culture fit in your governance rules?