By Caroline Copeman, Principal Consultant, Cass CCE
When we came up with the list of topics for the upcoming VONNE Building Better Governance series (sorry fully booked!) we had at the back of our minds the results of 200 plus board evaluation and development reviews we've run with voluntary and community organisations in the last couple of years. We know at first-hand what 'good' looks like, and can spot the practice that differentiates high performing boards from the rest. We usually find that even great boards, following one of our reviews, have 10+ recommendations about ways to improve their practice!
So we’ve designed six seminars that each build on the next. At the heart is a seminar about demonstrating accountability, stimulating conversations about who you are accountable to and how you deliver on this critical element of a board’s role. We then explore board appraisal, striking that balance between making the best use of trustee time and ensuring that boards are constantly reviewing their practice, learning and evolving. Two sessions then cover board involvement in strategy, and the reports and approaches you take to ensure your get to hear about the right things, in the right way, at the right time, as a basis for both scrutiny and strategic conversation. Next comes an exploration of the vital role of the top team, the dynamics and boundaries between the board and staff team, how challenge and support need to work to ensure governance and great leadership. We close with a seminar focussed on the board meeting: the place where decisions are made and where trustees come together to add value and deliver the Mission. Our analysis of high (and not so high!) board performance demonstrates the part trustee behaviour at meetings plays in differentiating really effective boards from the rest.
To prepare for this VONNE seminar series we've taken the board basics and put them in a series of good practice guides which will be given to all those attending. Whilst we'll spend time on these important basic principles during the programme, we want to spend the majority of time exploring new thinking with you and going beyond the basics to ponder what it will take to get really excellent governance practice. These won't be seminars where you sit and listen! And you'll find yourself sharing your experience and ideas with colleagues, so we all emerge having both given and received quality learning.
We keep our materials up to date, both with the best research in nonprofit governance, and in response to sector challenges such as the recent 'failures' in governance that have both caught media attention and given us food for thought about how we can be even more rigorous and challenging in our practice as trustees. All of our Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness governance team are looking forward to sharing in the learning.