OPINION: Excessive Governance Should Not Be Confused With Good Governance

Monday 09 January 2023

In his second column for Express, Wayne Bulpitt - with his extensive experience in the corporate world and the third sector - considers whether excessive governance equals good governance.

"I‘ve explored previously how a professional approach to charity management can be good, but it goes without saying that, like many good things, an excess can be bad!

Many of us will have experienced long meetings, with ever increasing pages of policies, procedures, checklists, manuals and so much more and a plethora of new roles covering many aspects of “governance”. But how often have you checked who has read them, the benefit of them, and more importantly, that they are actually acted upon in everyday activities?

Perhaps a good idea for starters is to cut short the meeting and go and ask your frontline staff and volunteers how they reflect the realities in their activities?

A quick online search will give you an abundance of toolkits (I especially like www.ncvoknowledgehub.com and that from Kingston Smith (https://mooreks.co.uk/upload/pdf/Charties%20Governance%20Toolkit_Final.pdf). For me though, there are a few core benchmarks for good governance which are generally accepted to be:

· Effective leadership and remaining focussed

· Clear responsibilities between executives and non-executives (whether paid or unpaid)

· Integrity and inclusivity

· Financially sound

· Great communications

· Respect

Above all perhaps, developing an environment where mutual respect combined with constructive challenge will lead to a well performing board and effective governance.

For trustees, like directors, one unwritten ‘rule’ is that of preparedness. Those members who spend a little time beforehand to understand a topic and ask any questions that will aid discussion and decisions on the day, will ensure a far more effective meeting and are more likely to impact the outcome in the way they would wish.

It is so easy to get side tracked or bogged down in the governance or ‘compliance’ that you forget the very purpose of what you are doing and why you exist. Conversely, being overly focussed on the purpose, that you lose sight of the how, is no better for your beneficiaries either.

None of this is rocket science or need be difficult to implement and so don’t forget the importance of getting satisfaction from what you are doing, whether paid or voluntarily!"