Articles written By Better Boards

Mental Models for NFP Directors: Beyond Directors' Duties

The past decade has seen boards, committees of management, councils or similar named groups of individuals move from the processes and behaviours of managers managing a service to the processes and behaviours of directors governing an organisation. To this end there has been much focus on duties that the law proscribes for directors or similar positions. While knowledge and understanding of director’s duties is critical they provide little in the way of guidance to an individual of what the work of a director involves or how to effectively go about the work of the director.

Evaluating the CEO: essentials for not-for-profit boards

Like any employee, your CEO needs a regular formal evaluation of their performance in the role. It holds the CEO accountable to their role, but also ensures that the board is actively meeting its duties to their organisation. The benefits of doing a proper CEO evaluation are invaluable. Growth Evaluations provide a CEO with an overview of their efforts. It helps them to understand their strengths and weaknesses and gives them direction for areas where they can continue to develop professionally.

Recruiting for Not-For-Profit Boards: Building Strong Foundations

With the landscape of not-for-profit governance constantly changing, it is crucial that boards recruit appropriately skilled and qualified directors who can help drive the organisation towards its mission and goals. Yet, boards continue to suffer from underperforming directors, ego-driven attitudes, and constant disagreements. While managing performance is an important part of maintaining a high-performing board, it is equally as important to have a clearly defined recruitment process for bringing in new directors.

Better Boards Conference 2019

Conference Downloads Speakers’ presentations from the 2019 Conference in Brisbane are available as downloads through the links below: CEOs Summit – Friday 2 August Workshops The CEO’s Role in Strategic Transformation – Dagmar Parsons Creating Deeper Corporate Partnerships to Maximise Your Social Impact – Phil Preston Working With Your Board: Strategies for Success – Chris Scott Navigating the Governance Journey: CEO’s Perspective in Developing a Board – Lynne Moran [No Slides] The Mind of the Change Maker: How to Get Better Performance from Your Leaders – George Liacos

Legal Structures for Not-for-Profit Organisations

The legal structure you choose for your organisation should meet your organisation’s needs, and allow for future development and growth of the organisation. Your organisation’s legal structure will affect its legal identity, governance structure, and reporting and compliance obligations. This webinar will cover: What (legal structures)[/non-profit-fact-sheets/legal-structures-nonprofit-organisations/] are available? The advantages and disadvantages of each legal structure. The legal obligations attached to each legal structure. How the right legal structure can help with: mergers; restructures; social enterprises; commercial activities; and risk management.

The Evolved Board

It has been said that the banking Royal Commission will be looked back on as a watershed moment for corporate governance in Australia. Today, it’s no longer feasible for boards to assume all is well in their organisation. Changing expectations of employees and communities means that an organisation’s social licence to operate is under threat, if poor conduct by employees is left unchecked. At the heart of it all, trust challenges the concept of governance and has become an important driver.

From Inc to Ltd: Making the change to Company Limited by Guarantee

Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations face more demand for structure, accountability and transparency than ever before. Not only are there more NFPs that are growing into multi-million and multi-billion dollar entities, but there are also more public and government expectations of NFPs than in the past. In line with this trend, NFPs around Australia have been transferring from incorporated association to company limited by guarantee and this trend continues to grow, especially in increasingly competitive markets.

Background Checking - Know Your People

Accurate background screening is an essential component of the employee and volunteer recruitment process. Unfortunately, the traditional process for obtaining criminal history checks has proven to be time-consuming. Too often, the delay leads to the loss of a potential new staff member or volunteer and, in some cases, a decision to overlook the checking process in favour of a speed appointment, which can lead to problems at a later time.

Digital Security Awareness for Directors

As digital technology has become more enmeshed in the day to day of our existence our own personal security and privacy in the digital space has become an increasingly important aspect of our lives that requires education, consideration and planning. As a board member, director or executive of a Not-For-Profit (NFP) organisation, our own understanding of and attitude toward online security and privacy, as well as the way we conduct our online lives will impact the security of our organisation’s information and data.

Board Evaluation Webinar

Annual board self-evaluations have long been considered a best practice, with the idea that measuring board performance leads to continuous improvement in governance. A disconnect today according to our research exists between what we want board evaluations to achieve, and what they actually do. Join Henri for this session to explore the reasons why board evaluations often fail to actually improve board performance, and discuss issues such as: Common flaws in board evaluation requirements issued by regulators Why fixing the process isn’t as simple as finding a better questionnaire How most board evaluation processes impede change Henri will provide simple strategies and tools that can help evolve your board’s evaluation process from a “check the box” exercise, to an engine for creating continuous improvement.