Governance

When preparing for a presentation on governance, and proper board-manager relations for cities and counties, I happened to be in a county government building on another project - a coaching engagement. I was killing time in the hallway before a meeting and stumbled upon a take/borrow bookshelf and found an old book on effective non-profit and public boards.  What a gem of a book!  Noting their top traits of effective boards, I was struck by three (among many):

Culture of Respect, Decorum, Order and Civility - Even when members disagree, they debate ideas, not personalities. In this rise of incivility at the local level (likely a product of the national scene emboldening people and it trickling down) for cities and counties to be productive, meetings themselves must be productive, not chaotic.

Willingness to Adapt and Innovate and allow for creative ideas to flourish - Good boards embrace new ideas, technology, and community trends, rather than clinging to "the way we've always done it."  The status quo, when working, is OK. But it must be challenged and Boards must be not be of the head-the-sand variety. This is also an allowance to fail. What you say?  Meaning, allow for growth and opportunity to happen when staff attempt, and sometimes - yes - fail, at new ideas and concepts to address old problems. Just fail forward. 

Above all, Ethical Behavior and Integrity in activities - No self-dealing, hidden agendas, or conflicts of interest. Public service ethos drives their work. Unfortunately this in my opinion is another area ripe for under or mis-interpretation. Training in this area is important as well, and should be organization-wide.