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 <[email protected]> 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" <[email protected]> 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 <[email protected] > > > > 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. 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