Dear Santa
I’ve been awfully good all year long, and all I want for Christmas is the gift of great governance.
I’ve prepared for all my meetings in advance, read the reports and papers and accounts thoroughly, and have a 100% attendance record, despite that really heavy snow last January. I’ve played nicely with my board colleagues, and was always polite when I challenged the Chief Executive about the few targets we didn’t meet on time. I even think I deserve some extra credit for attending board development training, and keeping up-to-date with industry trends.
I hope you agree I’ve been as good as good can be.
Here’s my Christmas Governance wish-list
- The continuing respect of my board colleagues, and the senior management team. I’ll help you deliver this one by acting with integrity and showing everyone that what I think, feel, do and say are all perfectly aligned with our organisation’s values.
- Continuing financial health. I can help by making sure I know the financial position before each meeting, and keeping an eye on industry trends to make sure there are no big surprises.
- Really good replacements for the 2 board members who are stepping down this year. I’ll make sure we consider our strategy and conduct a skills audit so that we truly know what sort of person we need before we follow a robust recruitment process. After all, I have to work with these people!
- A chair who pays attention to the right things. Seriously Santa. I don’t want to spend my time in board meetings on getting to the bottom of who changed the biscuits from hobnobs to shortbread. I’m there to talk about strategy, performance and risk. Is it too much to ask that that’s what we focus on in meetings?
It’s a short list Santa, but it’s an important one. Not only will getting this loot in my Christmas stocking make me very happy, it’ll also keep up my passion for my board work right through to Christmas next year.
Thanks Santa!
See more of our recent blog posts below!
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- Imposter Syndrome
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