Newsletters: September - October 2007
What Your Board Is Up To
Natural Times-September/October 2007
By Chuck Hungerford, Board President
Owners (as well as staff) sometimes wonder what the board is doing, has done, and plans to do. Listed below are the issues that the board addresses. Also identified are issues that the board does not address. The last section of this article identifies some activities the board plans to work on over the next year.
What We Do - In general, the board deals with four broad policy areas:
- Ends Policies - organizational products, effects, benefits, outcomes, recipients, and their relative value. (What goods, for which recipients, and at what costs.)
- Governance Process - specification on how the board conceives, carries out, and monitors its own tasks. (How we decide what to do, how we do it, and how we know it was done.)
- Executive Limitations - constraints on executive authority (the general Manager (GM)) that establish the prudence and ethical boundaries within which all executive activity and decisions must take place. (What the general manager can and cannot do without additional board authority.)
- Board-GM Linkage - how power is delegated and its proper use monitored; the GM role, authority, and accountability. (The working relationship between the board and the GM.)
What We Don't Do - Co-op boards do not typically involve themselves with day-to-day operations of the store, including personnel matters, unless there is a crisis. It should be noted that historically, where a crisis occurs at a food co-op, it is usually a result of the board interfering in operational matters.
Future Board Activities - During the July planning session, the board assessed its performance over the last year and identified activities it will undertake in the upcoming year. Committee chairs will meet with committee members, generate work plans and a schedule of activities, and present these for discussion at the August 27 board of directors meeting. Following are brief summaries of the board's future objectives and the committees assigned to work on them.
- Expansion Committee - David Watson will continue as committee chair. Activities for the committee include educating the board on issues related to "green building" and "smart growth," in addition to monitoring current store expansion activities.
- Local Providers Committee - Helen Hennessey is the new committee chair. David Maloney, retiring board director and former committee chair, has asked to remain on the committee. The committee will continue activities to further educate board members on local-grower issues and activities New Leaf Market can initiate to promote and support local growers. Additional issues include educating board members on organic regulations and organically certified food.
- Ends Committee - Joshua Youngblood will continue as committee chair. The committee will propose revisions to the ends policies for the board's consideration.
- Owner Communications Committee - Darlene Duran was unanimously selected to continue as committee chair. The board suggested two additional activities for the committee that include new owner recruitment and increased use of the board's webpage for communication with owners.
- Policy Governance Committee - Candice Parker will continue to serve as committee chair. The committee will continue to revise policies as agreed upon by the board. In addition, the committee will review all policies under Section II, Board Process, for the purpose of developing simplified revisions for the board's consideration.
- Scholarship Committee - Chuck Hungerford will continue to serve as committee chair. The committee will consider revising methods to evaluate applications.
Other Activities - Retreat participants thought it useful to continue to work towards improving the relationship between the board and the general manager and staff. This effort would help identify ways the board can better serve New Leaf Market employees and owners. Chuck Hungerford, board president, will continue to act as liaison between the board and the general manager and staff.
What Would You Like to Do - Please review the different committee assignments and notify us if you would like to work with a committee on a particular project. You can contact us by leaving a message in the board of director's comment box at the service counter or send an email to: board@newleafmarket.coop. We will get back in touch with you as soon as possible.
