What is governance?

Every day organisations fail, needlessly; private sector companies, but also voluntary and public sector ones.

 

The ultimate responsibility for these organisations obligations, operations, and conduct rests with their Boards, but all too frequently Board members, and sometimes whole Boards, do not fully understand their statutory and business obligations and how to discharge them. They can, however, be held legally responsible, The Board should work with the Executive team to ensure success, rather than be managed or controlled by it. The Board, therefore, itself becomes a source of fragility, since it is poorly equipped to conduct scrutiny, deal with emergent issues, set direction and assure implementation and performance.

 

There is a need for good precautionary principles, learnt from previous organisational failures. In this regard, the 2015 Small Business, Enterprise, and Employment Act remind us of the responsibilities of the Board and Directors.

 

As the Institute of Chartered Accountants has warned our Government, we must fix our business failures. And improving Board performance should be a key part of this. Properly constituted and conducted Boards are not fragile, but Anti-fragile. They are more than just robust since they get stronger through their collective experiences of the Board and the individual experiences of their Board members.

 

But how to accomplish this? Where and how to start, how to make it happen, and how to cash the gains? The Anti-Fragility Academy offers a range of low-cost high-value services designed to help develop Board members and whole Boards to enable them to be valuable assets in pursuit of stakeholder objectives. Our services include:

 

• Skill & knowledge development training for Board members

• A Range of Board Health Checks & Stocktakes

• Board Development Workshops

• Board Self-Assessment Tools

• Board Development Consultancy Packages

• Specialist Workshops targeted on closing specific gaps in Board performance

• Board Participation

• Annual Board Reviews

• The ‘Committed to Good Governance’ Health check & standard mark.

 

Our objective is to facilitate the creation and maintenance of ‘fit-for-purpose’ Boards, to assure Board capability, the right ‘mix’ of Board members with appropriate leadership, the right skills and competencies, and collective Board members loyalty to the Board’s and stakeholders’ objectives.

 

What do we offer?

At the Anti-Fragility Academy, we offer a wide range of services, tools and workshops which will help to improve your Board. Please see the links below for more information for our currently offered services. If you require a service that isn't mentioned below, please do get in touch as we may be able to cater directly to your needs and requirements. 

 

Click the headings below to find out more.