We are pleased to bring to your attention the following modules we are offering for the ongoing development of your board. The modules are targeted at boards or board members who have already gone through the board induction course. To fit in with the busy schedule of board members, we suggest that the modules be offered as one—two- hour sessions during your board meeting cycles. Nevertheless, we are also happy to offer them as part of a board retreat. Please also note that our two-day induction package for new board members is also available. As always, we are flexible and willing to provide bespoke training for your Board – based on your requirements.
- Board Composition Matrix
To be effective, boards need to compose the right group of people, with an appropriate mix of skills, knowledge, and experience (e.g., professional backgrounds, industry experience, diversity, etc.) that fits with the organisation’s objectives and strategic goals. Board skills matrix are important in checking whether the board has the right balance of people on it and to assist with selecting new board members. Many boards, however, adopt an ad hoc approach to board recruitment that often results in the board being packed with members with similar characteristics and demographics – further leading to blind spots and groupthink.
This module seeks to assist board members to understand how they can use the board composition or skills matrix to identify talents that the board currently has vis-a-vis what it actually needs and how to fill the gaps in skills that they are lacking.
- Board Diversity
Boards are more effective when they can appreciate the needs of the people they serve. This often means, during formation, boards need to go beyond skills and experience and to consider the kind of diversities and demographics required to make them more responsive and inclusive. A truly diverse board contributes to wider perspectives and robust board discussions, ultimately contributing to better decision making. Lack of diversity on the other hand can hurt the Board dynamics and lead to narrow mindedness.
The challenge for NPOs is to compose a board (that has the relevant knowledge, skills, and experience) and that can provide strategic mission-driven leadership in an increasingly dynamic and challenging environment. This, while ensuring that the board also promotes inclusivity and captures the diverse views and experiences of the communities in which it operates in.
This module seeks to involve board members in thinking through their attitude(s) towards diversity; whether their Boards are sufficiently diverse and the steps to take to increase their diversity.
- Board Strategy
Setting the vision, mission and strategy of the organisation is an important board responsibility. The Board’s focus on strategy is key to its accountability. Yet quite often, board members are caught up in day-to-day operational matters and either neglect or do not pay enough attention to their role in constantly reviewing the organisation’s strategy.
This module provides practical tools for the board of directors to ensure to focus on and continually review and adjust its strategy to respond to emerging changes and to ensure it remains fit for purpose
- Board Work Plan
Boards often struggle to distinguish between what requires their attention and which they must focus on and issues that they should delegate or pay less attention to. Board members increasingly find themselves with ever-growing meetings’ agenda, which leaves them with little time to focus on the things that matter in their governance role.
The module seeks to help boards to plan and take charge by focusing their time on the business that requires their due attention, resulting in increased efficiency and effectiveness.
- Effective Board Meetings
Board meetings are how Boards mainly conduct their business. The board as a corporate body exists only when it is in session at a duly constituted meeting. Effective board members conduct their business, deal with matters, discuss and debate issues, receive and consider recommendations, and make decisions at properly called board meetings.
Yet, quite often board meetings become a source of frustration for board members by taking too long or providing insufficient time to deal with key issues; not providing relevant information, getting bogged down by unstructured debates, lack of collegiality, trivial conflicts, and ultimately a general feeling that not much is being achieved in such meetings.
The module seeks to assist the Board to plan, manage and run focused meetings with effective decision-making processes, that enable boards to be more effective in their core role of governing the organisation.
- Board Strategic Risk Review
Boards need to institutionalise an appropriate system of risk oversight and internal controls to help increase the opportunities of the organisation delivering on its mission.
Nonetheless, the conventional approach to risk is to see it in negative terms — as something wrong that has the potential to occur — and which must then be managed. Risk is therefore largely perceived as a complex compliance issue that must be monitored and managed in order to tick the correct boxes.
In this module, we consider the potential of risk as a strategic advantage and consider that the risk management process can be turned into an ongoing process of identifying strategic opportunities emanating from the risk management strategies.
- Board Succession
For their organisations to operate smoothly even as they face emerging challenges, not- for-profit organisations need to ensure consistently strong leadership on their boards and senior management. This requires that the Board takes a proactive and forward-thinking approach to identifying and recruiting talent. Quite often, organisations find themselves unprepared to deal with the sudden departure of a board member or senior management staff.
The module seeks to assist boards to develop and implement dynamic succession plans that will enable their organisations to deal with planned or unplanned departures by board members or senior staff.
- Reputation Management
With the advent of the internet and social media where information travels fast and reaches more people than ever before, the Boards oversight responsibility for reputation management has become even more challenging. Increasingly, public perception about not-for-profit organisations is being swayed by persons cloaked in anonymity and many times unknown to the organisation. Yet, for NPOs, being a value driven sector, the risk of reputational damage has far much deeper ramifications and quite often NPOs are less likely to rebound from a damaging event than in other sectors.
This module offers practical skills and tools to enable your board to take a more proactive approach to reputation management by building, monitoring, and protecting the public perception of your brand.