Governance
A governance model describes the roles that project participants can take on and the process for strategic and tactical decision making within the project. In addition, it describes the ground rules for participation in the project and the processes for communicating and sharing within the project team and community.
This section of the toolkit is focused on activities that will help you think through how to establish stabilize and evolve sustainable governance for your program. It will not hand you the perfect governance model or provide tools to use in everyday governance. It is designed to help you structure discussions and gain consensus about next steps for sustainable governance of your OSS program. (say this nicer)
Brand new to It Takes a Village in Practice? Check out our Getting Started Resources before jumping into the activities below!
Pre-Work | |
These are activities that may be helpful if you haven’t already done strategic planning. | |
Goal: To enable program governance to consider and create a Mission and Vision Statement if they do not already have one. Having a Mission and Vision Statement are helpful for many of the ITAV activities. | |
Strategic Priorities | Goal: To enable program governance to consider and create some high level strategic priorities if they do not already have them. These are helpful for many of the ITAV activities. |
Goals: To identify community stakeholders, consider goals for each stakeholder group, and prioritize community stakeholders This is helpful as pre-work, but also for programs in any phase. Note, there is a fuller version of this in the Community Engagement Facet. |
Phase 1: Establishing Governance | |
Phase 1 Objectives include: Define the Need for Governance; Review Existing Governance Models; Selecting the Governance Model that Works Best Now, and Communicating Changes to Stakeholders | |
Goals: Understand how the program’s current governance model (or decision making) works with unexpected issues; Understand if the model works well or has gaps; and Identify the kinds of issues that need to be solved. Note: This activity is valuable for any phase. | |
Goals: Understand the elements of various governance models, and determine which your governance structure currently has. | |
Goal: Understand the range of various governance models, how they function, and what they could mean for your own program. | |
Goal: Understand program needs in terms of more or less formality in governance structure. | |
Goal: Choose the governance model that most closely aligns with your program’s priorities and values. | |
Goals: Draft your communication strategy and communicate change to your stakeholders. | |
Goal: Evaluate how well your communication campaign was received. |
Phase 2: Stabilizing Governance | |
Phase 2 Objectives include: Document Existing Governance Practices. Evaluate Each Element of Existing Governance, Increase the Level of Community Engagement, and Evaluate Long Term Home Organization Options | |
[links to first one; list in each phase?] | Goals: Test resiliency of current model; Understand how the program’s current governance model (or decision making) works with unexpected issues; Understand if the model works well or has gaps; Identify the kinds of issues that need to be solved; and Document governance policies or decision making process. |
Goals: Enumerate the strategic and tactical decisions the program stakeholders are faced with; Enumerate the paths those decisions take before they are finalized; For decisions that have no path, identify choke points, redundancies; and Identify gaps or areas of governance or program management that need improvement. | |
Goals: Assess the financial and organizational stability of your program’s governance, and identify gaps or areas of governance that need improvement. | |
Goals: Create, update, or confirm position descriptions for elected leaders; Help elected leaders and community members understand the roles and responsibilities of each position; and Facilitate succession planning. | |
Goals: Create more explicit stakeholder personas to help guide community efforts. | |
Goals: Understand how the program currently recognizes contributions; Understand how recognitions and contributions are incorporated into the program; Understand the kind of recognition that is most appreciated/motivating to each kind of contributor; and Discover how the program can improve in this area. | |
Org Home Process: A) Requirements Gathering and Assessment | Goals: Determine if you need a new organization to provide organizational home functions; gather requirements for assessment and decision. |
Org Home Process: B) Core Values Match Assessment | Goals: Determine which values are important for your program to help with evaluation. |
Org Home Process: C: Program Services Evaluation Matrix | Goal: Determine which services are important in selecting a home organization for your program. |
[reformat? license doesn’t allow…] pretty complicated | Goals: Evaluate the program’s current governance structure, determine potential needs, and prioritize work going forward. |
Phase 3: Evolving Governance | |
Phase 3 Objectives include Support Consistent Structures, Continue to Evaluate and Evolve Governance Practices and Expand community Participation in Governance | |
Goals: Identify critical positions within your organization; Identify future staffing needs; Identify people with the skills and potentials to perform future roles; Develop action plans for individuals to assume those positions. | |
Goals: Determine what information is necessary for Board members to feel invested, informed and engaged; Identify topics that inform Board discussions and decisions; Create a continuing education plan (schedule and content) based on those topics for Board members. | |
Goals: Test resiliency of current model; Understand how the program’s current governance model (or decision making) works with unexpected issues; Understand if the model works well or has gaps; Identify the kinds of issues that need to be solved; and Document governance policies or decision making process. | |
Goals: Evaluate if governance structure is representative, prioritize any gaps, document or revise governance policies or decision making process, and devise a plan to make change to practices. | |
Goal: Develop a plan to expand community participation in governance. |