Hey Luis!
So, the good news is that a couple things you describe here are in the works. I think others have been discussed but haven't reached consensus or implementation, while still others are helpful new suggestions. I can't speak to all of these suggestions, but I can talk about what we've got going within the Foundation. You can also see some of my (very similar) answer to Wittylama's question on governance on the Annual Plan: https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AWikimedia_Foundation_Ann...
Some things that the board should do to change this situation:
- *Make the board HR committee effective.* This would involve at
least:
- Simply documenting *who is on the HR committee and how to contact
them*. Last fall, there was no way for staff to even know who was on the
HR
committee until my repeated questions to *four separate boardmembers* led to this edit <
https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=HR_Committee&type=revi...
.
As of when I left, there was still no way to confidentially emailthe
entire committee as a group. - Using of one of the board's appointed slots to appoint an *HR expert*, as has been done in the past with finance. (I assume Arnon was an attempt at this. If so, I'm very sorry it did not work out.) - Improving *policies* *on staff-board contact*. The whistleblower policy is not the right place for this, but it was all the staffhad. And for board members, the Handbook <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Handbook#Board_me...
is unfortunately not clear on how to address HR issues. Betterpolicies, explaining roles and responsibilities, might have helped both
groups.
- *Monitor organizational health*. This would involve at least:
- Conducting a *regular engagement survey* with (ideally) a trusted neutral reporting results to the board as well as the executive
team. This is now in place through HR, but was not done until monitoring of office attendance indicated that people hated coming to the office, and tends to break down in an executive crisis (since HR may not be trusted).
As presented at Metrics last week, the WMF has committed to doing regular engagement surveys on a 6-month basis for the foreseeable future. When the Board agrees, we will reduce to a yearly cycle, which is still more consistent than in the past. I expect this drawdown will be sometime from now, well into the permanent ED's term. The results will be presented to the staff and Board by our current third-party engagement survey contractor, CultureAmp, to ensure a neutral perspective. The top-level results will continue to be presented at Metrics meetings (more detailed, team-by-team or demographic breakdowns will not, due to issues around personally identifiable information).
The next survey is scheduled for this month, with results due in June. CultureAmp will present to the Board and staff. During the presentation of the May 2016 results, CultureAmp will also re-present the November 2015 results, according to their interpretation of the findings. We will share these top-line findings at Metrics, per usual.
- *Exit interviews* with all departing executive staff. To the best of my knowledge, the current board did not do this, even after 9-10 executives departed in the space of a year. This is goodpractice even when the board has endorsed a "cleaning house" of the executive staff
(as
may have occurred here), since those staff are still likely able to provide insight into the performance of the ED that the board may not be able to glean themselves.
The Board has agreed to regular c-level exit interviews by the HR committee, per Patricio's comment here. Patricio's comment also discusses the engagement surveys. https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AWikimedia_Foundation_Ann...
There are, of course, many other things a board can do to help with these issues (leading on creation of a clear strategy; putting a staff rep on
the
HR committee; regular contact with staff and executives; etc., etc.) But these are the utter, utter basics that are still, to the best of my knowledge, unresolved.
Besides the points above, I'd like to see:
- When I asked board candidates
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/...
what they thought the top responsibilities of the board were, I was hoping to see at least one person say "HR". Obviously many votes have been cast, but I'd still like to hear the candidates speak about how they will effectively fulfill their HR-related responsibilities ("select,
evaluate
and (if necessary) remove the Executive Director <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Handbook#Effectiv...
").
- The HR committee is supposed to do a yearly self-assessment
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Handbook#Human_Re...
.
I think the current HR committee and the board should publish that self-assessment, and share (*as part of the hiring plan*) how they
plan
to monitor *and support *the next ED's performance.
Slightly more than two cents- Luis
Always appreciated them.
[Disclosures:
- After I left, I did not sign a termination or contracting agreement
with the organization, so I did not become a contractor with the organization. I do still speak to many friends within the org, but
have
not discussed this email with them.
- I was one of the people who spoke to James (as well as other board
members) about Lila last fall. I appreciate his efforts on behalf of
the
staff, as well as his efforts to protect our confidentiality.
- My baby was due yesterday, so I probably won't check the list again
for quite a while. :) Still, hope this is helpful to highlight some specific actions the board could be taking.]
Baby pics when you get 'em! :)
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe