As a board member, has this thought ever crossed your mind? “The buck stops with me so I reserve the right to check what I want, ask for what I want, in as much detail as I want, at a time that’s convenient to me.” An effective board member will always be keen to ensure

Reflective practice is a crucial part of good governance as it helps us to learn from mistakes and best practice, to determine the differences between good and poor governance and to help us in the training and development of existing and future board members.   More importantly, being aware of how effective you are as

As a governance consultant and previously as an accountant, I have acquired the skills to contribute to the boards of organisations in different sectors over the past twenty years. I have observed, like many other leaders in the city, the gaps in board composition. On these boards, I saw for myself the lack of younger

Subsequent to this, Lord Myners was also commissioned by the Board at the Co-operative Group Limited to conduct a comprehensive review of their governance. It is good practice to do a spot check on the organisations that we govern by systematically and diligently working through reports like these to ensure that we learn from them.

The way the process is delivered is as important as the key components of the process. There must be two-way communication between the chair and CEO, with honest open dialogue and where necessary, ‘difficult conversations’ need to be had. The appraisal forms that are used then are important and must ask the right questions but