Governance Improvements

Owned by Kaitie Zhee
Last updated: Oct 20, 2022
2 min read

Summary & Objective

As a means of improving FIO’s current Steering Committee (SC) and leadership design structure, I’m proposing the following ideas for consideration with the interest of improving the overall efficacy of the Steering Committee to best represent the interests of FIO’s stakeholders as well as provide a solution for increased inclusivity and representation at our highest decision-making roles.

Who should care?

General FIO stakeholder audience

Proposed Amendments to SC Rules of Engagement

  1. Member must be a full-time active FIO Contributor

    1. Being full-time engaged on the day-to-day operations helps ensure that the SC member is able to be more tuned in and sensitive to the needs and constraints of the protocol

  2. Member should not hold a WP Lead role

    1. This causes a potential conflict of interest and centralizes too much power / decision-making capability

  3. There should be at least 40% gender representation if and when at all possible

    1. This is a common law for centralized companies and their boards in most European and Scandinavian countries as a means of ensuring adequate representation and inclusivity

    2. Additionally, there is an abundance of robust research that demonstrates a direct correlation to between companies that foster gender diversity throughout their leadership ranks and the overall success of these companies in comparison with companies lacking gender diversity throughout their leadership

Further consideration

A) I believe it would serve no less than a great benefit to FIO and all of it’s stakeholders if there was a “Code of Ethics” that the Steering Committee members agreed to uphold while seated in their positions.

As a suggestion, one part of this idea would be to highlight that the Steering Committee members agree that when decisions which most impact a specific function within the protocol, that if there happens to be a SC member with deep experience with said function, then their voice will be heard with increased value in the whole – I’m not sure how to word this, but the outcome I am striving towards and believe is in the best interest of FIO’s chances for success is that we want to empower those who are experts to guide and advise accordingly when the time calls. This isn’t to say that it becomes autocratic in any sense of the word, only I am suggesting that there is a code of ethics that SC members agree to honor which would support more sound and rational decision-making. I further believe that if there isn’t a subject matter expert on the SC to guide the decision making in certain circumstances, then it is the SC’s responsibility to seek the guidance of those who are (preferably from within the FIO Contributors and/or FIO Community).

 

B ) Regular voting periods for FIO Contributors to be able to formally submit their interest to hold a seat on the Steering Committee and have the chance to make their case heard for why they feel they are the best fit for a SC role. I would propose maybe every four (4) months there is a formalized platform offered for those who are interested