Excellent governance is at the heart of every successful organisation. On the flipside of this particular coin, every failing organisation, whether that be in terms of health and safety compliance, service delivery or financial viability, has serious governance problems.
How we can help
We can help you to ensure that your governance arrangements are all that you want them to be by providing a wide range of services tailored to meet your needs.
Reviewing your governance documentation
Whilst good documentation in itself does not mean that governance arrangements will be effective, it is an important element in the overall governance picture. We can assess whether you have the full suite of documents that you need, review the contents of those documents that you do have and consider whether all of your documents hang together as a whole.
Helping you to think about your governance structures
It is vital that your governance structures facilitate you to achieve your organisation’s objectives, rather than getting in the way. We can help you to think about your group structure, the number of organisations in the group, how that fits with your strategy and relationships between different parts of the group. We can also help you to review your Board and committee arrangements, the number of committees you have, what their responsibilities are and how the Board retains overall control.
Observing your Board and/or committees in action
As important as governance documentation and structures undoubtedly are, when it comes down to it, it’s people, how they work together and how they make decisions, who are the most important governance ingredient of all. We can assist you by observing meetings of your Board and/or committees and providing practical feedback based on our observations.
Conducting a governance health check or a more in-depth review
It is a requirement of the Regulator of Social Housing’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard that registered providers assess the effectiveness of their governance arrangements at least once a year. We can help you with that, either by reviewing your governance arrangements at a relatively high level or by undertaking a more thorough review. Whichever option you choose, we can tailor our approach to focus on any areas that you have particular concerns or uncertainties about.
Facilitating your Board away day
With the expectations placed on Boards and committees, it can be difficult to find the time to step back and really think about what you are trying to achieve, how to go about that and how to spot and address the things that might get in the way. We can help you to do that thinking effectively by facilitating interactive away days for your Board and/or committee members. We will tailor the agenda to meet your needs, possibly including issues such as strategic direction, corporate planning, governance and operational structures, horizon scanning, risk and assurance mapping and stress testing.