The Roles of the International President And The Executive Director Within Policy Governance
by Gayle Fitzpatrick, Alpha Rho (Oregon State U), Executive Board Ex-Officio
In the Carver method of Policy Governance, AOII’s International President (IP) and Executive Director (ED) each play important roles in AOII achieving our goals as an organization. As leaders of our organization, they each have their own responsibilities as they collectively work to advance AOII.
As a quick refresher, the AOII policy set (available on Fulfilling The Promise) is the framework within which AOII operates. How the IP and the ED do their work is outlined in our Policy Set. The IP takes direction and guidance from the Governance Process and Board Management Delegation policies, and the ED takes direction and guidance from the Ends and Executive Limitation policies.
Under AOII’s Governance Process (GP) policies, our IP assumes the role of Chair of the Board which is outlined in GP-4. In this role the IP leads the Executive Board (XB) to follow the performance standards they have set for themselves in the Governance Process and Board Management Delegation policies. The IP ensures that the XB gets their work done and holds each board member accountable to deliver on the long-term vision and results to be delivered for our members. The IP provides the approach for dealing with everything the board focuses on such as: the annual planning cycle of work, monitoring the fraternity’s performance, connecting with our membership to receive input to guide our organization strategy, and responding to unforeseen events. In the past year the global pandemic is a great example of leading through unforeseen events!
The ED is accountable for achieving the goals for AOII as outlined in the Ends policies (see left). She is responsible for the day-to-day operational decision making with our HQ staff and volunteers to achieve these Ends while staying within the guard rails of the Executive Limitations set by the XB. The ED has oversight of all volunteer roles to ensure there is partnership with our HQ staff to achieve AOII’s Ends. She collaborates with the staff and volunteers to design programming and educational materials while also serving as our professional liaison to partner organizations. The XB leaves the operational decision making to the ED.
As John C. Maxwell said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” This is exactly what our two inspiring leaders in the IP and ED roles do every day in leading the Fraternity to deliver on our aspirations and ambitions.