Articles

Three Cheers for the Chair

Every board member has an important role to play in the governance of your organisation, but it is your board Chair who has the greatest influence over the culture and focus of your board activities. As such it is crucial that boards carefully consider their Chair’s appointment and make sure they choose the right person for the job. When discussing the role of Chair for your organisation, there are several things you may want to consider.

Keeping Your Reputation – Integrity Risks for NFPs

Recent cases questioning the integrity of some Not-for-Profit (NFPs) organisations highlight changing accountability requirements for the sector. As more public funds are provided to the NFP sector to deliver public services a higher level of public accountability is being applied to the sector. NFPs able to negotiate this transition will distinguish themselves in the market. For some, the recent Anzac commemorations were tainted by the Department of Veteran Affairs stripping the Camp Gallipoli Foundation of its permit to use the protected word “Anzac”.

Darren Fittler on the How Purpose Drives Choices

In this short video, Darren Fittler – Partner at Gilbert + Tobin – outlines how your organisation’s purpose drives what your organisation does at multiple levels. Darren presented on “Never Forget Your Purpose… Ever!” at the Better Boards Conference 2015.

Tech in the Boardroom: Beyond the Board Portal

Discussion of boardroom technology has almost exclusively been focused on board portals. This makes sense as board portals have probably had one of the most significant impacts on boards of any widely available technology to date. However, we are now beginning to see the consumerisation of a wide range of far more complex and advanced technologies that have the potential to make a significant impact on the boardroom and the way boards operate.

Director Selection: Finding the Right Fit

Getting the right people onto a board can be critical to a non-profit’s effectiveness. Yet while the recruitment of a new CEO typically follows a rigorous process, the appointment of a new director is frequently ad hoc, informal and heavily reliant on a closed network of acquaintances. As a result, many non-profit boards may be missing an opportunity to add value to their organisation. Boards are unique work groups. They meet infrequently and spend limited time together outside the boardroom.

Gavin Nicholson on Handling Complexity in Board Decision Making

In this video, on handling complexity in board decision-making Gavin Nicholson – Associate Professor at the QUT Business School – examines how decision-making processes can help to tackle significant complexity in matters considered by the board. Transcript This is a very abstracted kind of decision that I’ve got here. But I really wanted to make the point that you can have all the information in the group and still make a bad decision, depending upon how you make the decision, the actual process.

Reshaping the Board’s Role in Organisational Culture

Culture is a crucial driver of any organisation’s success and a critical lever in its performance. It shapes and influences an organisation’s internal environment, as well as its interactions with and success in the external environment. In an organisation, culture is the way people behave, what they believe, and the values they hold – on the whole generally without thinking about any of it. These behaviours, beliefs and values are passed through the organisation via communication and imitation, from one employee, volunteer or even director to the next.

Gavin Nicholson on Why Processes Really Matter

In this video, Gavin Nicholson – Associate Professor at the QUT Business School – examines how testing underlying assumptions and instituting better processes can subvert poor decision-making. Transcript This is a very abstracted kind of decision that I’ve got here, but I really wanted to make the point that you can have all the information in the group and still make a bad decision, depending upon how you make the decision, the actual process.

Why Miscommunication Happens Among Directors

In the game Pass the Message, the first person in a group whispers a secret message to the second, who in turn whispers it to the third. This goes on down the chain until the message reaches the last person. More often than not, hilarity ensues when the last person announces the message they received because at this point, the original message already evolved, making it significantly different in amusing ways.

Planning for the Election: Government Relations for Not-for-Profits

Engaging with the government can be a difficult feat for Not-for-Profits, given the pressures of budgets and resources in today’s operating environment. But with the Australian Federal Election scheduled this year, now is a better time than ever to rise to the challenge and start (if you haven’t already) engaging with our nation’s representatives. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you kick-start and manage your organisation’s government engagement efforts for this election year: