2025 GOVERN for IMPACT Conference

If you require assistance when the registration desk is not open,please feel free to contact either of the following GOVERN for IMPACT team members:

• Elaine Vandale, Conference Volunteer Coordinator at efvandale@gmail.com o

John Carver and Robert Greenleaf, founder of the modern service leadership movement, were colleagues who recognized the importance and connection between policy governance and service leadership. 
In this participatory session, participants will delve into exploring service leadership, with particular attention to application within the boardroom. How can Board Members create a culture of service, collaboration, and trust amongst themselves, with the administrative team, and the ownership/careholdership, whom the Board is ultimately serving?

Building diverse, effective boards isn’t about looking outward—it’s about first understanding what you truly need. This high-level session explores the “weave” of character and culture in board leadership, focusing on the attributes that enable successful recruitment and mentoring. We’ll challenge conventional board recruitment processes, interrogate recruitment purpose, and examine how boards can cultivate spaces where the right leaders step up—and stay. Through the lens of Board Leader Character profiles, we’ll discuss the board’s critical role in shaping an authentic, thriving leadership pipeline, and provide a practical example of an approach to mentoring.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand the Intersection of Character and Culture in Board Leadership – Participants will explore how leadership traits and organizational culture shape effective board governance and decision-making.
2. Identify and Implement Recruitment & Mentoring Enablers – Attendees will learn strategies to attract, engage, and retain diverse board members and leaders by fostering an inclusive and supportive environment.
3. Recognize the Board’s Role in Leadership Development – Participants will gain insights into how boards can intentionally create spaces for emerging leaders, challenge biases, and build a sustainable leadership pipeline.

What defines a truly exceptional Board leader? Beyond strategy and decision-making, the core of leadership lies in character. In this session, we will explore the characteristics of Board leader character which shape effective Board leadership. Through research, real-world examples and interactive discussions, attendees will delve into the essential traits that inspire trust, foster collaboration, and drive organizations toward sustainable success.
 
Whether you're a current or aspiring Board member, this session will provide invaluable insights into the character-driven approach to leadership that transforms organizations and communities.
 
Those who attend this session will:
 

• Understand the relationship between personal values and leadership effectiveness.
• Learn how to cultivate authenticity and credibility as a Board leader.
• Gain practical tools to build stronger, purpose-driven Board dynamics.

Artificial Intelligence has taken the world by storm and has become the fastest adopted technology by far. Several industries have embraced the technology while other industries are cautiously approaching its adoption. In this table talk discussion, I will share Denver Public Schools’ approach to AI adoption. Participants will gain insights into the necessary board policies to address its benefits, potential innovations and concerns. Board members will be better informed on the potential trajectories for the safe and responsible use of AI that includes planning for the bias inherent in these systems.

Outline:
1. Defining Artificial Intelligence and how it is different from prior technologies introduced in the past.
2. Benefits of AI3. Concerns around AI - the damaging impact4. Possibilities of the future
5. Considerations for Boards
6. Denver Public Schools’ journey in defining policies and guidelines7. Discussion

Equipping Boards Chairs for Leadership – practical tools for orienting and equipping a new Board Chair to help him/her be as ready as possible for the Chair’s position.

This Table Talk will share tips drawn from nearly 30 years of Policy Governance experience, energized by facilitator training under Roger Schwarz to help surface tools that you can use to enable Board Chairs to become more effective,

A successful Chair is a product of understanding what qualifications are needed in the role, selecting new board members with a view that some will grow into potential Chairs, and orienting each new Chair well.
And, while intervening upstream is ideal, often the person selected as the Chair may not have been the person you expected and/or wanted. Our discussion and exercises are designed to help every Chair think well about processes they can implement that will give him/her fulfillment in their role and help the Board be successful.

Problematic governance scenarios will feed brainstorming on how Board leadership can move toward a solution. Policy Governance consistent handouts will include assumptions on the role of the Chair, guidelines for effective agenda planning, conditions for effective meeting culture, tips for facilitation and decision making, and a one-page simplified parliamentary principles which can be inserted in the Board Policy Manual.

The Leadership and Board Governance Amid Unexpected Tragedy Table Talk introduces
participants to Six Domains of Resilience that help CEOs and governance boards adapt and
recover during times where it may feel impossible, and there may not be any established policy
to leverage.

The facilitator offers real experiences of how Vision, Composure, Reasoning, Health, Tenacity,
and Collaboration prevail for being resilient in the most trying of times. Remaining steadfast to
organizational vision is the focal point of the conversation. The facilitator encourages
discussion through board governance scenarios that employ each of the domains of resilience.

If you’ve been working with Policy Governance, you know that Ends policies include three components:

a) intended impact/results/effect/difference;
b) for intended recipients/beneficiaries; and
c) for an intended worth (cost-benefit or priorities). Measuring the cost-benefit of Ends policies can be challenging, especially for less tangible Ends statements.

You are invited to a hands-on exercise in which the participants at this table will test drive “a method for involving customers in valuing outcomes”: the ValueGame by Peter Scholten. The ValueGame was developed for the community which applies the principles of Social Return on Investment. We’ll make some modifications to the process in the ValueGame as we adapt it for measuring the worth component of less tangible Ends policies.

If you want to be a part of the group that pioneers this method for measuring the worth in Ends policies, join us at this table!

The effectiveness of an organization operating under Carver’s Policy Governance Model depends on a strong, collaborative relationship between the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Governance Officer (CGO). While their roles are distinct, their partnership is essential to ensuring strategic leadership, mission alignment, and healthy governance.
This Table Talk will explore how the CEO and CGO can work together effectively by establishing clear communication, mutual respect, and shared strategic priorities. Through real-world insights and interactive discussion, participants will gain practical tools to strengthen this crucial relationship and enhance their organization’s governance effectiveness.

1. Introduction (3 minutes)
• Welcome and introductions around the table
• Brief overview of Pam/Greg's roles at Fellowship Housing
• Why the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and CGO (Chief Governance Officer, typically the board chair) relationship is critical

2. The CEO-CGO Partnership (6 minutes)
• Defining the distinct yet complementary roles of the CEO and CGO
• How the CGO leads the board in governing, while the CEO leads operations
• The importance of trust, transparency, and shared vision

3. Keys to Effective Collaboration (6 minutes)
• Clear and open communication: Establishing expectations and boundaries
• Mutual respect and a commitment to the organization’s mission
• Handling disagreements and decision-making within the governance framework

4. Practical Steps for Strengthening the Relationship (3 minutes)
• Setting regular check-ins and structured communication channels
• Developing a shared understanding of policy interpretation and strategic priorities
• Encouraging ongoing learning and leadership development

The initial presentation/introduction to this topic will address

• Review of the initial PG model implementation process: discovery, exploration, policy development, launch, initiation of monitoring
• Ongoing cycle of monitoring, evaluating performance, reviewing and renewing strategic policy guidance
• Challenges to sustainment, including turnover of board members, CEO turnover, turbulence in intra-board relations, turbulence in the board-CEO relationship, and the natural ebb and flow of group development/effectiveness
• Periodic review of alignment with and renewal of commitment to PG principles

Some (not all) of the questions that will stimulate discussion include:

• What additional challenges might a board experience to sustaining the PG model?
• What are some symptoms of complacency that might creep in for a PG board?
• What are the signs of a high-performing board?
• Where is your board in its own development toward becoming a high-performing team?