Does your governing body need to develop its governance skills?
Do you have new members or individuals wanting to make a contribution at the governance level in your organisation?
Highwire can help you balance community and corporate needs and support good governance practice across your organisation.
Some examples of the support we can provide include:
- Designing and conducting customised governance workshops
- Facilitating a Governance Performance Evaluation
- Developing a Skills Matrix for the governing body aligned to your needs
- Providing coaching for individual members of your governing body
- Designing and conducting specific training for groups or individuals
- Supporting a review of your Constitution
- Helping you develop governance policies and procedures
- Supporting the development of and effective Strategic Plan
Benefits of Effective Governance
Develops confidence
People are more likely to have confidence in the organisation’s decisions when they are made in a transparent and accountable way:
- Members can act on behalf of their community because they are supported by open and ethical processes which adhere to the law and stand up to scrutiny.
- Stakeholders feel confident that the governing body will act in the community’s overall interest, regardless of differing opinions.
- Members feel better about their involvement in leading an organisation when good governance is practised
Supports ethical decision making and legislative responsibilities
An effective governing body creates an environment where members ask themselves ‘What is the right thing to do?’ and can navigate a process through different points of view to find a decision:
- Making choices and having to account for them in an open and transparent way encourages honest consideration of the choices facing those in the governance process.
- Governing body members are less likely to take shortcuts or bend the rules when they understand good governance responsibilities.
- Good knowledge of the legislation means a governing body can protect the organisation and its stakeholders.
Leads to better decisions
High level leadership skills and knowledge of governance processes promote a safe place for debate and decision making:
- Decisions that are informed by good information and data, by stakeholder views, and by open and honest debate will generally reflect the broad interests of the community.
- Stakeholders are more likely to accept outcomes if the process to come to a decision is transparent and follows procedure.
- Difficult and controversial decisions are more likely to be accepted by stakeholders if they have confidence in the process, even if they don’t agree with the decision.
“Good governance is the art of putting wise thought into prudent action in a way that advances the well-being of those governed.”
Diane Kalen-Sukra Save Your City
Example: 1 Day Governance Workshop Agenda
- Self-assessment – ‘Am I a good member of the governing body?
- What is Good Governance? Governance vs Management
- What is a governing body and what does it need to be successful?
- What should the governing body focus on?
- Setting the strategic direction to achieve the vision and mission
- Key Community Development Principles
- Board Responsibilities – Roles, Standards and Legislation
- Relationships between the governing body and the CEO/ Manager
- Important documents and records – Code of Conduct, delegations, meeting minutes
- Evaluating Board Performance
Online training and support are also available
Cost:
- Full day workshop at your place: $1800 (5% discount for small organisations with less than 10 staff)
- Negotiated cost for customised program
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