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Governance

Key qualities of High Impact Boards

By April 28, 2022May 19th, 2022No Comments

Adding value and making a positive difference to the organisation’s performance

Staff, community, regulators and other stakeholders place their trust in the organisation’s Board to know what to do and then to do the right thing by those stakeholders.

To retain that trust and confidence, the Board needs to be able to demonstrate how the directors are truly adding value and making a positive difference to their organisation’s performance.

Key qualities of Boards with significant impact on their organisations

Outcomes-focussed: A sharp focus on the outcomes/KPI’s your organisation is trying to achieve. These should go to the heart of ‘Why does the organisation exist?’. The Board monitors the timely execution of key decisions and measures the impact on stakeholders.  This outcomes-focused approach demonstrates to the organisation’s stakeholders that what you are doing is working.
Dynamic and highly engaged: The value of stakeholders living and/or working in harmony, trusting and respecting one another, and achieving the right balance between support and challenge cannot be underestimated.  This is often proven to have a measurable ripple effect following the making of decisions, i.e. a dynamic and highly engaged Board will always consider the impact and consequences on key stakeholders.
Skilled and experienced: Every Board needs a broad and diverse mix of skills and experience. These need to align with the future strategic direction of your organisation and the ongoing challenges ahead. Directors have a critical role and must ensure that they understand and meet the full range of governance responsibilities.
Continuous reflection of effectiveness and learning: Boards should conduct regular formal and independent reviews of their own performance every 1 or 2 years.  Without the rigour this offers, Boards risk becoming complacent, less energetic and enthusiastic, lacking in focus and/or group thinkers.  All too rarely is time set aside for Boards to review their own performances.  An independent facilitator/advisor can conduct the review to include a deep dive into the positive effectiveness of your Board’s decision-making processes. This also offers an opportunity of brainstorming options for how directors can do things better.

Measuring Board Impact

When did you last measure your Board’s impact both as a Board and, on the overall organisation’s operations?  In other words, do you know how your Board creates the optimum value for your organisation?

Would you like to find out more about what we do and can offer your Board?  

Enterprise Care has led many Board Impact consultations. This includes using its own specially designed skills matrix review, Board member interviews, diagnostic and presentation/facilitation sessions.

Contact us today to receive a personalised proposal.