• 1. Restructure the Board agenda so that it reflects the key elements of the strategic plan.
• 2. Develop a staff report section at every second or third Board meeting, where a staff member verbally reports to the Board on the strategic issues facing their area of responsibility, and is questioned by Board members regarding these strategic issues.
• 3. Recast all reports from CEO, staff and committees so they directly relate back to the strategic plan, identify the key strategic issues and discussion points, and provide ranges of options.
• 4. Include “Changes to Strategic Environment” as a standard section in the Board agenda as a discussion segment of the Board meeting. This is an opportunity to discuss any major changes, shifts or trends the board needs to be aware of that might impact on its strategic assumptions.
• 5. Develop guest speaker sessions to support the Board. This might include presentations from other CEO’s of like organisations, funding bodies, academics etc.
• 6. Consider developing part of the Board meeting as an in-camera session (without staff) to discuss matters of Board performance, individual Director’s issues and any other issue where it would not be desirable to have a staff member present.
• 7. Ensure your Chair has the required Chairing skills. Consider implementing a regular review by the Board (every 6 months) of the Chair’s skills and their effect as Chairman.
• 8. Conduct an annual review of the Board, where you evaluate Board functions and what can be improved.
• 9. Provide external accountability through the annual report, AGM and stakeholder engagement strategies, including meeting attendance and how the skills of the Board members are matched to the strategic needs of the organisation.
• 10. Develop a formal mentor system for new Board members to facilitate understanding of, amongst other things, what constitutes Board and management matters and why, and the decision making processes utilised to make those determinations.

11. Don’t let non-attendance go on! Deal with it now.

For more on creating Board strategic awareness, visit Conscious Governance.

Third Sector Professional Development Seminars

Steven will be leading a governance workshop at the Third Sector Professional Development Seminars. Focusing on governance, the Seminar will be held from 1-3 March 2011 in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The format of the day will include a morning of case-study presentations from NFP directors or managers, a networking lunch, and then an afternoon workshop with Steven Bowman.

Director of ‘LifeMastery’, Steven is one of Australia’s leading governance and senior executive team specialists.

Steven’s workshops will be highly interactive and to ensure delegates get the most out of the day, upon registration delegates will be able to submit some of the issues they would most like Steven to cover.