governance and boards
Miriam O'Brien offers a number of consulting services to assist boards in their governance role.
She has received advanced training in Policy Governance ® with John Carver and Miriam Carver (with Caroline Oliver) and has developed the policy model concepts and adapted them to particularly suit the needs of Boards in Australia. The basic concepts are well suited to Australian Boards, particularly not for profit organisations and volunteer Boards.
Our approach to governance fits well with current management approaches and requirements for best governance practice (such as is required by accreditation bodies).
Miriam has developed a number of generic tools to assist Boards in their governance role, including base documents for the Governance framework and self-assessment questionnaires, plus tools & resources for workshops and governance training sessions. These are then modified and tailored for individual client Boards.
We have developed a number of services to assist Boards in moving towards best practice in governance. For example:
- Governance framework - helping Boards review and or set up a governance framework to guide the way they operate.
- Board policies or Board charter - detailed documentation in line with the governance framework, setting out guidelines for Board operations, decision-making, behaviour and delegation to the CEO.
- Board evaluation - this normally includes a self assessment by Board members of the performance of the Board as a whole, plus input from the CEO in regard to the interface between the Board and management. We facilitate a session with Boards to develop an action plan based on the results of the evaluation.
- Board education and training - we offer sessions on governance to Board members and senior management. These may be short (1 hour), half day or evening sessions, or full day sessions.
- Strategic planning - we facilitate Board planning days and retreats, using tools designed to stimulate ideas and robust discussion.
The tools and sessions are designed to meet specific concerns of Boards, for example:
- Leadership and the role of the Board in planning
- Planning the strategic direction and results the Board desires from the organisation
- Stewardship and how best to monitor the organisation
- Monitoring the CEO and organisational performance
- Evaluation of the performance of the Board itself
- Managing time wisely to allow the Board to focus on getting results (rather than spending time on matters more properly handled within the organisation)
- Role of the Board, directors and officers of the Board, including role of the Board vs role of the CEO
- Board members as volunteers within the organisation
- Board committees and working parties - structure, function and membership.
Experience
Miriam O'Brien has worked with Boards from the not for profit sector, public bodies, statutory authorities, industry peak bodies, community organisations in a number of sectors including health, human services, employment, education, natural resource management, elite sport and government. On some assignments she has worked in association with other leading consultants in the field of governance and boards.
Look up the list of our governance-related and Board review projects in the project gallery...