The Court Leader and Court Governance – Embrace Your Role

This posting is in follow up to the prior posting (on April 5, 2021) on court governance. We all work within an organizational governance structure, often without giving it much thought. Governance practices are sometimes subtle and underappreciated. A court leader can leverage their role in court governance for optimal organizational performance. This posting briefly suggests court leader actions to embrace and demonstrate court governance.

A governance structure provides consistency and predictability in operations and lays the foundation for day-to-day functions while preparing for long-term activities. Governance leads to operating stability and practices, consistency, accountability, and decision-making. It extends to interactions and engagement with justice system partners.

As covered in the National Association for Court Management (NACM) CORE© Competencies, the components of effective governance include roles, structure, rules, functions, and accountability.[i] I’ve summarized each below.

Roles – the understanding of leadership roles and responsibilities for decision and policy making
Structure – the presence of defined lines of authority and organizational structure for the administration of justice
Rules – the practice of ensuring that operational expectations adhere to mandates and rules, and are memorialized in policies and procedures
Functions -the practice of having a clear understanding and description of court functions and duties
Accountability – the practice of measuring performance to manage operations, promote transparency, and garner public confidence in the court.

A court leader has a responsibility to employ and support governance best practices. Here’s an illustration indicating the suggested components of court governance. It offers a menu of actions for court leaders to consider and the benefits of using the governance components. This list of options may prompt court leaders for successful use of governance concepts.

[i] The full curriculum on court governance can be viewed at the National Association for Court Management site at https://nacmcore.org/competency/court-governance/

Published by Janet G. Cornell - Court Leader Contributor and Consultant

Janet has over 35 years in court leadership including service in general and limited jurisdiction courts. She is a founding and contributing member to www.courtleader.net. She has a Masters in Public Administration from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and is a Fellow of the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management in Williamsburg, VA, along with certificates from the Leader Coach Institute, Scottsdale, AZ, and the Leadership Institute for Judicial Education, Memphis, TN. Currently she serves as a consultant, faculty, and author on court administration, leadership, governance, caseflow management, performance measurement, operational assessment, access for self-represented litigants, and court reengineering with projects across the US and internationally. View all posts by Janet G. Cornell - Court Leader Contributor and Consultant