Policy Governance

Policy Governance®

The transition to Policy Governance is at once frustrating and empowering. This was the first board meeting in which the board tried to operate completely under the PG model. We found that there are a mere 2.7 million details to be worked out as we go forward. However, my board colleague, the Rev. Dr. Susan Ritchie, Trustee from the Ohio Meadville District, wrote the following about that transition. Her words are certainly more understanding and elegant than what I had started to write.

“Chances are you’ve not heard a really rousing sermon or children’s story lately about the development of English Unitarianism out of Presbyterianism. There are no martyrs, and not so many distinguished individuals. Instead there were the Middle Way Men. These good people felt that their chief job as church leaders was to concentrate on good basic governance. Within their congregations and larger associations, they promoted democratic principles, a broad understanding of the population congregations should serve, and they worked hard to develop and empower lay leadership (whom were charmingly referred to as “gifted brethren”). Over the course of generations, this focus had a liberalizing effect on their congregations’ theology, many of which eventually embraced Unitarianism. Who knew? Apparently what we do matters as much if not more than what we say we believe.

“I bring this up to say that the October UUA board meeting was the first in which our association went fully into a policy governance mode. I attended preparing to support and advance this governance choice, but not expecting to find much of a precedent for this latest thing in our own history. So I was pleasantly surprised to experience a sense of déjà vu. Others have rehearsed better than I can the basic principles of policy governance. And there are kinks to be worked out. We need remember to empower rather than manage our UUA staff, we need as a board to make sure that our relationships of accountability are real, function, and two-way. But the historian in me just has to say that I find policy governance’s unrelenting focus on making sure that our “hows” are really and always truly reflective of our values a special and good match for our tradition. It is an impressive way of not only reflecting our values but manifesting them for the future.”

Thank you Susan.