Governance Policy Services by Dan Clark Associates

The dominant principle of organization has shifted, from management in order to control an enterprise, to leadership in order to bring out the best in people and to respond quickly to change.
~ John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene in Megatrends 2000.

The challenge for credit union Boards today is to reinvent their board governance through policies and practices, to move from a managing to a leading Board, to empower their executives, and to enable their credit unions to respond quickly to changing member needs and markets.
~ Dan Clark

Board governance policies are guidelines for a long journey. Teamwork is possible, in part, by having guidelines to clarify and separate duties and help people make decisions consistently - where consistency is needed. Credit unions and other organizations need flexibility to be effective today, and poor policies can mean trouble. You need board governance and governance policies that make sense for your organization.

In the early eighties, Dan Clark responded to credit unions' needs and wrote a model manual to use in his policy workshops. Updated periodically, credit unions have used the Board Governance Policies Manual to develop governance policies where none existed, make a complete revision, or as a reference guide.

Let us help you improve your board’s policies. Dan has developed several ways you can enlist his expertise to make your board governance and policy development or renewal project simpler for you, and the result more effective.

Board Governance Consultation (complete turnkey):

Since you have so many things to do on a daily basis, then you could benefit from our help because we can simplify your life in the process. This involves the consultant visiting your site to meet with the Board and senior management at least two times, and delivering a completed governance policy package that will meet your needs and pass regulatory muster. Talk to us and we will provide a proposal with all the details. The complete turnkey project investment is $17,900 plus travel costs. There are places in the project that you can take over, reduce the investment, and we will coach you through the process.

Conversion to our Model Board Governance Policy:

If you like our model manual (provided with the engagement), we will begin with the model and infuse it with your existing governance policies. You will recognize your organization’s unique culture, in the structure and comprehensive format of our thorough model. The process may include one or more conference calls with your project team and one or more Webinars with the full Board and top management. After looking at your existing policies and discussing the involvement on your end, we will propose a time-billing arrangement at $135/hour. The final product will be purer governance policies in one well-structured document (ends, philosophies, board process, CEO limitations), and clearly separate governance policies from operating policies (personnel, products & services, etc.) that your Board is ready to adopt and Management ready is to work under.

Governance Process Policies with Workshop:

Using our model manual (provided with the engagement), the credit union reviews and customizes it with individual work. At a scheduled day-and a half workshop, a DCA consultant presents a briefing on good governance processes (director position descriptions, ethics, recruiting, meeting and agenda guidelines, etc), works thorough issues and leaves the client with a final draft. Then, we will hold a follow-up Webinar to resolve any issues and review implementation and follow-through. A second follow-up Webinar occurs six months later to deal with the tendency to do things the "old" way and provide guidance to keep things moving ahead. The fee is a modest $6,300 plus travel expenses.

I greatly appreciate your expertise and facilitation throughout the
process – the Committee would have struggled far more with many
of these issues without your guidance during the discussions.
--Glen Yeager, CEO, Utilities CU, Pennsylvania

Remote Governance Policy Consultation:

We review your policy documents and provide recommendations in a brief written report. Then, we’ll discuss the findings and recommendations in a conference call. You will receive your policy document back with ideas and recommendations written on it. The charges are the lower of $19.00 per governance page of your documents, or $135/hour. Note: governance policies are not operating policies such as personnel/HR, products & services, and information security, for example.

Governance Coaching:

Many organizations have the time and desire to conduct a board governance policy project on their own, or simply don’t have the budget to hire a consultant. Let Dan Clark be your coach and mentor. Using conference calls and emails, Dan can help you be effective. Benefit from his knowledge of governance and his writing skills to enhance your structure, content, and effectiveness. The fee is $450 per month; the proposal will outline the specific services included for that fee.

Governance Reinforcement:

When you have reinvented your governance policies, and they replace all the habits and processes that existed for decades before, it's a good idea to hold a workshop to reinforce the "new" ways to the incumbent directors, and provide orientation and rationale to new directors. Call on us for a one-day workshop or a Webinar using your board's process policies as the material (this is a training not a consultancy). The workshop fee is $4,500 plus expenses. The custom, private Webinar fee is only $1,500.

Click here to request more information by email, or call us to discuss which method could be best for you.