Policy Governance

When I was at the NASCO conference the only talks on governance where around best practices for boards.

One of the folks on the NASCO board is very interested in Policy Governance, basically a set of principles and best practices on how board can effectively operate and oversee their staff.

I am curious if anyone has experience with this in relation to sociocracy? They don’t seem to be entirely incompatible, and I think an articulation of how they could fit together and re-enforce one another could be interesting.

A key issue with Policy Governance from the sociocratic point of view is that Policy Governance does not allow the operational leader (Executive Director or General Manager) and the delegate from the General Circle to have decision making rights on the Board.

I see. So you mean that Policy Governance prohibits double linking from the general circle and the mission circle/board of directors? Because it is meant to cleanly separate the decision making of the board from that of the staff?