Governance West - Consulting Services for Boards of Directors

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Consulting Services for Boards of Directors

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Governance Model

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- The Board's Role

Governance Model


Governance West focuses its consulting practice on the three critical components of good governance:
         
          • Board Effectiveness - the right structures, composition and processes to allow the board 
             to effectively manage its own affairs,

          • Strategic Effectiveness - the board's role in ensuring the current viability and a positive
             future for the organization, and

          • Organizational Effectiveness - the board's role in ensuring the right people, with the right 
             values and processes, are in place to deliver on the organization's mission and strategies.

Acknowledging the complex and complementary relationship among these three components of board governance, Governance West has developed a comprehensive governance model which has proven useful over the past several years in assisting boards to articulate their accountabilities, measure their performance, and set their future priorities.

Clarity in the division of power and accountability between the board and management of an organization is essential to good governance. Governance West's model of the major interface and accountablity of board and management is shown below. The triangle in the top half of the model represents the areas which are the responsibility and focus of the board. The triangle at the bottom represents the operations of the organization and is the focus and responsibility of management.

The governance model highlights that the board alone is accountable for its own internal Board Effectiveness.

For Strategic Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness, there are more complex interfaces between the board and executive management of the organization. These two clusters of responsibility affect both governance and operations. When not properly attended to, they may result in uneasy or unproductive board and management relationships.

In the model, Operational Excellence is the responsibility of management and the workforce of the organization. While the board stewards the results and holds management accountable for its operations, it relies on the skills and experience of management to lead in all operational areas.