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(a)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(a)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(a)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(a)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(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)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(a)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(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
--
Katherine Maher
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
+1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635
+1 (415) 712 4873
kmaher(a)wikimedia.org