Thanks Stephen.
A brief question to the Board: the board minutes say, "After discussion, the Board identified three goals. First, the Board is responsible for maintaining the long-term plan for the organization. The long-term plan is designed in partnership with the executive staff, and also needs to be set in coordination with other Wikimedia stakeholders. The Chair of the Board and the Executive Director are responsible for leading this goal within the Board. Second, the Board has a strong interest in improving its internal governance. The Board discussed some potential areas for improvement, including ensuring Board continuity. The Chair of the Board Governance Committee is responsible for improvements to internal governance. Third, the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director. The Chair is responsible for this goal, with the support of the Human Resources Committee."
After the events in the past year, I question whether the statement "...the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director" captures the full scope of the Board's role here. It seems to me that it's the Board's job to supervise the ED, which hopefully includes supporting him/her but also may include providing direction or removing him/her. I personally feel that Katherine is doing well and this is not intended to express skepticism about her, but being the ED of an organization is not a blank check, and I hope that the Board also takes a proactive role in the supervision of the ED. After the events in the past year, I hope that the Board will be diligent on this point from now on.
Thanks,
Pine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 5:53 PM, Stephen LaPorte slaporte@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi all,
The Board of Trustees have published minutes from the summer Board meeting on June 22-23 and the Board meeting on June 29 to discuss the endowment. You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the Foundation Wiki:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06-29
Best, Stephen
-- Stephen LaPorte Senior Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation
*NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.*
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
hi Pine,
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 9:17 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
It seems to me that it's the Board's job to supervise the ED, which hopefully includes supporting him/her but also may include providing direction or removing him/her. I personally feel that Katherine is doing well and this is not intended to express skepticism about her, but being the ED of an organization is not a blank check, and I hope that the Board also takes a proactive role in the supervision of the ED.
as you pointed out, one of the roles of the Board is ED supervision, and I don't think the Board intends to shy away from this duty.
best,
dariusz ("pundit", a current Trustee)
Hi Pine,
Short answer is yes we'll take responsability, but as wikimedians I do need to elaborate :)
I believe the best way a board can support its ED is by providing legitimacy and guidance.
Both needs for the board to make decisions and to be consistent. If we're making a clear decision regarding strategy, and we're consistent about it if the ED doesn't build on it, it shows at many level.
It's not about giving a blank check but to provide her, and staff and the larger movement, with direction, from which you can évaluateurs what is being done.
Second, there is on-going work, started before June's board meeting, to provide places and processes to provide feedback to the board from staff.
There are different things being worked on with staff. We'll communicate on the topic in the coming weeks I hope. Not that I don't want to talk about it but it first needs to gets staff feedback.
Lastly, the board HR is now running exit interviews with leaving C-Levels. Basicly we spend an hour talking with leaving staff about why they're leaving, how was their experience at the Foundation, their opinions about the board and th board can improve and the same for the ED and for WMF at large.
Which allows us, as a board, to get the insights from employees too. We can't do that with every single employees as you can imagine, but we now do with C-Levels.
Alice and I did Geoff's one this week. And as any discussion with Geoff, it was rich and really insightful.
Anyway, I hope I answered your question :)
Have great day/evening/night
Christophe
PS: I'm sending this email from my smartphone sorry for any typos due to french autocorrect ^^
Le 23 juil. 2016 3:17 AM, "Pine W" wiki.pine@gmail.com a écrit :
Thanks Stephen.
A brief question to the Board: the board minutes say, "After discussion, the Board identified three goals. First, the Board is responsible for maintaining the long-term plan for the organization. The long-term plan is designed in partnership with the executive staff, and also needs to be set in coordination with other Wikimedia stakeholders. The Chair of the Board and the Executive Director are responsible for leading this goal within
the
Board. Second, the Board has a strong interest in improving its internal governance. The Board discussed some potential areas for improvement, including ensuring Board continuity. The Chair of the Board Governance Committee is responsible for improvements to internal governance. Third, the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director.
The
Chair is responsible for this goal, with the support of the Human
Resources
Committee."
After the events in the past year, I question whether the statement
"...the
role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director" captures the full scope of the Board's role here. It seems to me that it's the Board's job to supervise the ED, which hopefully includes supporting him/her but also may include providing direction or removing him/her. I personally feel that Katherine is doing well and this is not intended to express skepticism about her, but being the ED of an organization is not a blank check, and I hope that the Board also takes a proactive role in the supervision of the ED. After the events in the past year, I hope that the Board will be diligent on this point from now on.
Thanks,
Pine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 5:53 PM, Stephen LaPorte slaporte@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi all,
The Board of Trustees have published minutes from the summer Board
meeting
on June 22-23 and the Board meeting on June 29 to discuss the endowment. You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the Foundation Wiki:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06-29
Best, Stephen
-- Stephen LaPorte Senior Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation
*NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer
for,
community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal
capacity.
For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.*
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
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Christophe and Dariusz,
Thanks for the comments.
I feel that it's important that Board members be able to ask employees at any level of the company how things are going. That is different from providing direction, which can remain in the management structure. But the information flow up from employees to the Board can be insightful. I'm glad to hear that C-level exit interviews are happening. Staff surveys are another element of upward information flow, and I'm very glad to hear that the surveys have shown a positive direction recently. My understanding is that there were some intense concerns under previous administration about employees talking directly to Board members, to the point where somehow that became forbidden. I hope that those days are behind us.
I hope you'll pardon my intensity on these matters. As you know, I was alarmed and frustrated with some of the incidents in the past year. It'll probably be awhile before I feel at ease with WMF governance. All that being said, thank you for your your responsiveness and interest in making positive change. I really am grateful for the good that I see happening in WMF, and my guess is that many other people are too.
Pine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Christophe Henner chenner@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi Pine,
Short answer is yes we'll take responsability, but as wikimedians I do need to elaborate :)
I believe the best way a board can support its ED is by providing legitimacy and guidance.
Both needs for the board to make decisions and to be consistent. If we're making a clear decision regarding strategy, and we're consistent about it if the ED doesn't build on it, it shows at many level.
It's not about giving a blank check but to provide her, and staff and the larger movement, with direction, from which you can évaluateurs what is being done.
Second, there is on-going work, started before June's board meeting, to provide places and processes to provide feedback to the board from staff.
There are different things being worked on with staff. We'll communicate on the topic in the coming weeks I hope. Not that I don't want to talk about it but it first needs to gets staff feedback.
Lastly, the board HR is now running exit interviews with leaving C-Levels. Basicly we spend an hour talking with leaving staff about why they're leaving, how was their experience at the Foundation, their opinions about the board and th board can improve and the same for the ED and for WMF at large.
Which allows us, as a board, to get the insights from employees too. We can't do that with every single employees as you can imagine, but we now do with C-Levels.
Alice and I did Geoff's one this week. And as any discussion with Geoff, it was rich and really insightful.
Anyway, I hope I answered your question :)
Have great day/evening/night
Christophe
PS: I'm sending this email from my smartphone sorry for any typos due to french autocorrect ^^
Le 23 juil. 2016 3:17 AM, "Pine W" wiki.pine@gmail.com a écrit :
Thanks Stephen.
A brief question to the Board: the board minutes say, "After discussion, the Board identified three goals. First, the Board is responsible for maintaining the long-term plan for the organization. The long-term plan
is
designed in partnership with the executive staff, and also needs to be
set
in coordination with other Wikimedia stakeholders. The Chair of the Board and the Executive Director are responsible for leading this goal within
the
Board. Second, the Board has a strong interest in improving its internal governance. The Board discussed some potential areas for improvement, including ensuring Board continuity. The Chair of the Board Governance Committee is responsible for improvements to internal governance. Third, the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director.
The
Chair is responsible for this goal, with the support of the Human
Resources
Committee."
After the events in the past year, I question whether the statement
"...the
role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director" captures the full scope of the Board's role here. It seems to me that
it's
the Board's job to supervise the ED, which hopefully includes supporting him/her but also may include providing direction or removing him/her. I personally feel that Katherine is doing well and this is not intended to express skepticism about her, but being the ED of an organization is not
a
blank check, and I hope that the Board also takes a proactive role in the supervision of the ED. After the events in the past year, I hope that the Board will be diligent on this point from now on.
Thanks,
Pine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 5:53 PM, Stephen LaPorte <slaporte@wikimedia.org
wrote:
Hi all,
The Board of Trustees have published minutes from the summer Board
meeting
on June 22-23 and the Board meeting on June 29 to discuss the
endowment.
You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the Foundation Wiki:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06-29
Best, Stephen
-- Stephen LaPorte Senior Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation
*NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer
for,
community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal
capacity.
For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.*
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
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New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
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On Sat, Jul 23, 2016 at 5:18 AM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Christophe and Dariusz,
Thanks for the comments.
I feel that it's important that Board members be able to ask employees at any level of the company how things are going. That is different from providing direction, which can remain in the management structure. But the information flow up from employees to the Board can be insightful. I'm glad to hear that C-level exit interviews are happening. Staff surveys are another element of upward information flow, and I'm very glad to hear that the surveys have shown a positive direction recently. My understanding is that there were some intense concerns under previous administration about employees talking directly to Board members, to the point where somehow that became forbidden. I hope that those days are behind us.
I hope you'll pardon my intensity on these matters. As you know, I was
alarmed and frustrated with some of the incidents in the past year. It'll probably be awhile before I feel at ease with WMF governance. All that being said, thank you for your your responsiveness and interest in making positive change. I really am grateful for the good that I see happening in WMF, and my guess is that many other people are too.
Pine
Nothing to pardon, those are legitimates questions to ask :)
And it is understandable that it will take time, and until such time comes we will have to deliver on many levels.
The only thing I can ask for is to assume good faith and engage openly in those discussions. At the end of the day, we are all in the same boat, pursuing the same goals.
Christophe
Hey Pine,
If it's helpful to hear, I'm also very much in favor of improved information flow from the WMF to the Board, and accountability on the performance of the ED. To recap, in practical terms, we are doing the following:
*ED performance oversight and support*
- Finalizing the job description (developed during the search process) for mutual understanding on what is in role and what is out - Confirming first year goals/criteria against which my performance will be assessed - 360* annual performance reviews, standard with those all WMF staff undergo - Departing c-level exit interviews - ED coaching with a professional management coach - These actions are being taken with leadership from the HR Committee Chair, and in coordination with the Chair and Vice Chair.
*Staff engagement*
- Six-month engagement surveys (until we determine we've reached sufficient stability to return to annual surveys) - New staff engagement committee (currently they are helping lead our process to choose a top priority based on results from the last survey) - A new structure we're currently calling "Collective Voice" - a staff led group that will be able to provide independent feedback to the Board. This one is still very much in active development based on conversations among staff.
As Christophe alluded to, support isn't just good vibes. Structured accountability is a form of support, to help create transparent and mutually accountable standards and expectations. It helps people (including the ED) know when they're living up to expectations, and where they need to focus on their own skills development. It helps everyone feel more confident that issues can be quickly identified and addressed. And better channels for staff to raise concerns means a healthier, better functioning, self-regulating organization.
I'm fully supportive of all of these measures (in fact, I've probably forgotten a few), and am happy to be working with staff and Trustees who have taken leadership in developing them.
Katherine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 8:18 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Christophe and Dariusz,
Thanks for the comments.
I feel that it's important that Board members be able to ask employees at any level of the company how things are going. That is different from providing direction, which can remain in the management structure. But the information flow up from employees to the Board can be insightful. I'm glad to hear that C-level exit interviews are happening. Staff surveys are another element of upward information flow, and I'm very glad to hear that the surveys have shown a positive direction recently. My understanding is that there were some intense concerns under previous administration about employees talking directly to Board members, to the point where somehow that became forbidden. I hope that those days are behind us.
I hope you'll pardon my intensity on these matters. As you know, I was alarmed and frustrated with some of the incidents in the past year. It'll probably be awhile before I feel at ease with WMF governance. All that being said, thank you for your your responsiveness and interest in making positive change. I really am grateful for the good that I see happening in WMF, and my guess is that many other people are too.
Pine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Christophe Henner chenner@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi Pine,
Short answer is yes we'll take responsability, but as wikimedians I do
need
to elaborate :)
I believe the best way a board can support its ED is by providing legitimacy and guidance.
Both needs for the board to make decisions and to be consistent. If we're making a clear decision regarding strategy, and we're consistent about it if the ED doesn't build on it, it shows at many level.
It's not about giving a blank check but to provide her, and staff and the larger movement, with direction, from which you can évaluateurs what is being done.
Second, there is on-going work, started before June's board meeting, to provide places and processes to provide feedback to the board from staff.
There are different things being worked on with staff. We'll communicate
on
the topic in the coming weeks I hope. Not that I don't want to talk about it but it first needs to gets staff feedback.
Lastly, the board HR is now running exit interviews with leaving
C-Levels.
Basicly we spend an hour talking with leaving staff about why they're leaving, how was their experience at the Foundation, their opinions about the board and th board can improve and the same for the ED and for WMF at large.
Which allows us, as a board, to get the insights from employees too. We can't do that with every single employees as you can imagine, but we now
do
with C-Levels.
Alice and I did Geoff's one this week. And as any discussion with Geoff,
it
was rich and really insightful.
Anyway, I hope I answered your question :)
Have great day/evening/night
Christophe
PS: I'm sending this email from my smartphone sorry for any typos due to french autocorrect ^^
Le 23 juil. 2016 3:17 AM, "Pine W" wiki.pine@gmail.com a écrit :
Thanks Stephen.
A brief question to the Board: the board minutes say, "After
discussion,
the Board identified three goals. First, the Board is responsible for maintaining the long-term plan for the organization. The long-term plan
is
designed in partnership with the executive staff, and also needs to be
set
in coordination with other Wikimedia stakeholders. The Chair of the
Board
and the Executive Director are responsible for leading this goal within
the
Board. Second, the Board has a strong interest in improving its
internal
governance. The Board discussed some potential areas for improvement, including ensuring Board continuity. The Chair of the Board Governance Committee is responsible for improvements to internal governance.
Third,
the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director.
The
Chair is responsible for this goal, with the support of the Human
Resources
Committee."
After the events in the past year, I question whether the statement
"...the
role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director" captures the full scope of the Board's role here. It seems to me that
it's
the Board's job to supervise the ED, which hopefully includes
supporting
him/her but also may include providing direction or removing him/her. I personally feel that Katherine is doing well and this is not intended
to
express skepticism about her, but being the ED of an organization is
not
a
blank check, and I hope that the Board also takes a proactive role in
the
supervision of the ED. After the events in the past year, I hope that
the
Board will be diligent on this point from now on.
Thanks,
Pine
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 5:53 PM, Stephen LaPorte <
slaporte@wikimedia.org
wrote:
Hi all,
The Board of Trustees have published minutes from the summer Board
meeting
on June 22-23 and the Board meeting on June 29 to discuss the
endowment.
You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the Foundation Wiki:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06-29
Best, Stephen
-- Stephen LaPorte Senior Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation
*NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer
for,
community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal
capacity.
For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.*
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be
immediately
directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
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On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 11:18 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
I feel that it's important that Board members be able to ask employees at any level of the company how things are going. That is different from providing direction, which can remain in the management structure
adding shortly to what Christophe and Katherine have already stated - I totally agree that it is important for the Board members to be able to talk to the WMF staff. In the same time, I think it is important to avoid disruption, sending mixed signals, and so on. Thus, I think we need to work on creating channels to communicate, and one of the efforts proposed by the Board Governance Committee is creating such channels. In fact, the WMF leadership have thought along the same lines and are already implementing the "Collective Voice" initiative.
best,
dariusz
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