Governance Lessons From Digging Deep

Governance Lessons From Digging Deep

A recent governance project threw up very useful “Dos” and “Don’ts” for community organisations – particularly membership-based groups.

Ethical Consulting Services was asked to conduct a governance and administration review of a large community organisation … while that organisation had at that point been very successful at their core business, there was an undercurrent of membership discontent which everyone hoped was avoidable.

Here are some of the (anonymised) lessons from that review, which might be widely applicable to community-based organisations.

1. The most effective leaders understand, and enthusiastically apply, good governance to everything, even when it’s inconvenient. This means they have to know what good governance looks like, which means they have to think and talk about it.
2. When individuals or groups lock into decisions before a meeting, and then impose their position on the meeting, it undermines
   • Confidence in and support for decisions and processes,
   • Participation,
   • Respectful relations,
   • Legitimate governance structures and processes,
   • Others taking responsibility for organisational decisions, and
   • Members’ commitment to operating within the organisation’s systems.
3. Every decision you make sets a precedent, everywhere.
   • You must be certain your decision is carefully ring-fenced, or is suitable in every circumstance and every part of the organisation.
     • This means you must know rules AND precedent thoroughly.
   • The rules/structures/processes must be adhered to or amended.
     • They can’t be wriggled around – if you do, how can you expect anyone to follow any part of the rules?
     • If rules or processes are inefficient or inadequate it’s the responsibility of the leadership to initiate amending them.
4. Failure to thoroughly plan projects and proposals well ahead of time ensures:
   • Garnering support is impaired.
   • Proposals/projects are much more likely to deliver sub-optimal outcomes and set bad precedents.
   • Implementation is last minute, and lacks real or effective consultation.
   • Implementation is poor, and seen as such.
   • Your friends and supporters are forced to defend and legitimise the indefensible.
5. Walk the talk (i.e., respect, empowerment and involvement)
   • Processes which do not respect, empower, and involve staff, members and stakeholders don’t just neglect those relationships and objectives – they will actively undermine them.
6. Hanging only with insiders or your boosters guarantees delusions of adequacy.
   • If the only people you talk with are your friends and supporters, or those whose views you automatically dismiss, you’ll constantly be satisfied with outcomes which are seen as poor, by many of those outside your loop.
   • People won’t confront you about your delusions, or you won’t believe what they say, until too late.

Could your team benefit from a customised training session addressing these, or similar, topics? Ask us!