Hey,
Sorry, with everything I forgot to answer this thread. So I'll provide a
general answer if I may. As I've shared back in June, for this year, some
of my goals include building a strong working relationship between the
Board and the Executive Director, and helping the Board focus on the most
important issues in front of them, like movement strategy. Minor changes to
policy do not require the Board's consideration or approval, and so this
resolution delegates a certain amount of authority to the Executive
Director. This delegates authority, not responsability.
In 2004, the Board of Trustees made a decision that certain "global
policies" should be approved by the Board. At the time, the Board did not
go into significant detail about what kind of policies they want to
approve, or what that approval process should look like. This left some
ambiguity around when the Board needs to be involved in policy changes.
Since that time, the Wikimedia Foundation Board and staff have also changed
and grown significantly. The Board is ultimately responsible for governance
and leadership for the Wikimedia Foundation, so we have to be judicious
about where we focus.
Under this new resolution, we are explaining that the Executive Director
has authority to set and change policies for the organization and its work,
without requiring prior Board approval in most circumstances. The baseline
is that the Executive Director has authority over policies, unless the
Board asks otherwise. In some cases (like any changes to the Conflict of
Interest policy), it's considered good governance for the Board to be
responsible for these policies. Decisions to change these policies will
remain with the Board. Other policies (like the internal staff policies)
will be maintained by staff. For policies on the Wikimedia Projects, we may
still review and approve them where appropriate. This will be something the
Board works closely with the Executive Director to determine as part of the
organization's regular work.
A few other questions have come up in this thread, and I hope it's helpful
to clarify:
# Who is accountable for policy changes now?
The Board has delegated some of its authority to set policies, but it will
still remain just as responsible as if it were making the decisions itself.
The Foundation and the Board remains accountable, just as they were before.
# How should we be transparent about policy changes?
We keep track of the Foundation's policies on the Foundation Wiki [1], and
staff will continue to maintain pages similar to this. Major cross-project
policies, like the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, will still be updated
following an open consultation with notice to the community. Minor changes,
however, will not need to be ratified by the Board.
# Does this affect the community policy process on projects?
This resolution does not change anything for community policies. Policies
that were previously written and enforced by the Wikimedia communities will
remain that way. The policies that have traditionally undergone
community consultations will also continue to do so, for example, as we
have made a commitment to provide advance notice in Section 16 of the Terms
of Use.
I hope I answered most of the questions, if there's more happy to answer
them.
Oh and if I'm not answering after a few days, please feel free to ping me :)
Have all a good day,
[1]
Christophe HENNER
Chair of the board of trustees
chenner(a)wikimedia.org
+33650664739 <+33%206%2050%2066%2047%2039>
twitter *@schiste* skype *christophe_henner*
On Mon, Feb 6, 2017 at 5:15 AM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Christophe,
Would you provide us an update on this topic, please?
Pine
On Fri, Jan 13, 2017 at 2:23 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Christophe,
Now that the end-of-Western-year holidays are behind us, I'm bumping this
thread in the hope that you'll respond to the points that I made in my
email from December 23rd.
Thanks,
Pine
On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 9:31 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Christophe,
>
> Thank you for responding to my questions.
>
>
>> First, the resolution and its context. "Supervising" the ED is indeed
a
>> board duty, but this supervision must not become micro-management. That
>> resolution provides staff the liberty to do their work more
efficiently.
>> It
>> doesn't remove our duty of oversight.
>>
>> I feel like you think delegating negates ones ability to provide
>> supervision, I would tend to think otherwise as delegating free time
and
>> energy to focus on the core roles of a
board.
>>
>
> Perhaps you could explain further how a resolution which says:
>
> *"*Resolved, the Board hereby delegates the authority to adopt, alter,
> and
> revoke policies to the Executive Director, who may further delegate such
> authority to Wikimedia Foundation staff as they deem appropriate;
>
> "Resolved, the Board may continue to review and approve policies for the
> Wikimedia
> Foundation upon request to the Executive Director or as required by
law."
>
> amounts to removing micro-management. To me this looks like a sweeping
> delegation of authority. Under this resolution, policy changes that the
> ED
> and/or his or her delegates make are not subject to advance review by
the
> Board, the Legal Department, the community,
or anyone else. This seems
> highly inadvisable, and I feel that this opens up WMF to legal and
> reputational risks that are of far greater concern than the value of
> sparing
> a few minutes of the Boards' time at meetings to review supposedly
> minor changes to policies.
>
> I would expect the Executive Director to have the authority to execute
> plans
> and manage his/her staff as permitted by the policies and resolutions
> adopted
> by the Board and as allowed by law, and to create and modify managerial
> policies for staff (for example, salary schedules and hiring procedures)
> that are compatible with the Board's policies and resolutions and with
> the law.
> I wouldn't expect the Executive Director to have the authority to
> unilaterally
> change policies that were adopted by the Board, nor to have the
authority
> to
> further delegate the authority to change policies that were adopted by
> the Board.
>
>
>
>>
>> Second, the requirements to answer the community. I'm sorry, here I
>> answered quite spontaneously, you are right nothing forces us to.
>>
>> But, as I've said in my candidacy and in public some time I believe we
>> have, as WMF board, a leadership duty. And I also believe you lead by
>> example. I've always believed, in the movement, we are all partners. We
>> need each other to push forward our mission. You treat partners the way
>> yourself want to be treated by them. That is why I believe it is
>> important
>> to communicate. It doesn't mean we have to see eye to eye on everything
>> but
>> that when a question rise we should answer as much as we can. That's
>> something I've said to nearly everyone who reached out to me in the
past
>> few month privately, my answer perhaps
won't be the one you want, but
at
>> least there will be an answer and an
explanation every time I can. Like
>> right now actually :D
>>
>
> Thanks for your efforts to communicate and cooperate. You and Natalia
> have
> been helpful in improving communications between the community and the
> Board in 2016. (I agree with Rob that Dariusz was admirably responsive
> and
> civil in public in 2015 in difficult circumstances, while others
weren't.)
>
> I would like to see further developments in this area, such as
> developments
> that prevent the community from being surprised by Board resolutions
such
> as the one that we are discussing here.
>
> Also, I would like to see consideration of changing WMF to a membership
> organization as a part of the upcoming strategy process.
>
>
>>
>> Finally, regarding board governance review, Natalia, as chair of the
BGC,
>> published minutes of our meetings[1], and
that is a key topic we
address
>> and not push aside. That being said it
will be a board review, not one
on
>> that specific event. We will be able to
provide more information on
that
>> topic soon I think :)
>>
>
> Thanks, this looks like a promising start.
>
> Doing the governance review in parallel with the strategy process, while
> continuing with regular annual work such as the Annual Plan process,
> might be a heavy lift for the Board and Katherine, so I encourage
careful
> thinking about the timing of this review. My
hunch is that it would be
> good
> to start and complete this review within 6 months, with the hope that
the
> results could then be fed into the strategy
process which will be
> continuing
> for awhile after that. Perhaps you, Katherine, Natalia or others may be
> able
> to shed some light on the capacity issue here, as well as the thoughts
> about the scope, timing, and cost of the governance review.
>
> In the governance review, I would like to see a particular focus on (1)
> a thorough review of the facts of Board members' actions in 2015, (2)
> an analysis of what can be learned from the facts of 2015, and (3)
> how WMF governance might become more aligned with and
> responsive to the community, such as by changing WMF to a
> membership organization.
>
>
>> I hope I answered your questions.
>>
>> [1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
>> Board_Governance_Committee
>>
>>
>>
> Thank you for your interest in trying to align WMF with the community.
> I appreciate the improvements in Board communications in 2016, and I
look
> forward to further developments in
communications and governance. I
> also look forward to hearing your responses to the community's comments
> that have been made in this thread.
>
> I realize that you may be offline this weekend, and I would prefer a
> thoughtful
> response to an immediate one, so I hope to hear back from you sometime
> within the next several days, perhaps after you have had an opportunity
to
consult
with others as you consider how to respond.
Have a nice weekend, and Merry Christmas,
Pine
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