WATSON Speaks

Recently, WATSON collaborated with Compensation Governance Partners (CGP) and Governance Professionals of Canada (GPC) on the 10^th Annual Corporate Governance Best Practices Survey. We heard from governance professionals at over 40 Canadian organizations across multiple industries and sectors who gave us insight into the current corporate governance landscape.

On Tuesday, September 26, WATSON Partner Manijeh Colabella and CGP’s Christopher Chen held a webinar highlighting many of the key trends coming out of the survey.  In case you didn’t have a chance to make it to the webinar, we rounded up a few of the key takeaways and considerations your board can make to grow and improve your approach to governance.

Continue to focus on ESG, DEI, and Emerging Technologies

• Review board structures and practices to ensure there is effective oversight of these areas, always keeping your purpose and strategy in mind.
• What gets measured gets done. Work with management to develop robust metrics in these areas, and ensure the board receives regular reporting.
• Weave these important topics into your board education plan. Don’t have a board education plan? This is your sign to build one.

Focus on CEO and Talent Succession

• Does your board have a CEO succession plan in place? We were surprised to see how many boards don’t. This is a critical role, so if you don’t have a thoughtful plan in place, you should make this a priority.
• Look for opportunities to connect with management beyond the CEO. It helps foster a greater sense of trust and helps the board gain insight into some aspects of organizational resilience.

Align with Management on Risk and Mitigation Efforts

• Discuss risk regularly – not just once a year – and incorporate some element of risk reporting into CEO reports.
• Conduct tabletop exercises around known risks (including scenario planning) and brainstorm future potential risks to the organization.

Overall, the survey results indicate that Canadian boards are applying a high degree of focus and care to their governance, but there’s always room to grow. If you could use some guidance in applying the best practices that are best for your board, WATSON is here to help.

Curious about the full Corporate Governance Best Practices Survey results? GPC members receive a full copy of the report. Learn more about becoming a GPC member and the benefits associated here.

The erasure of history simply compounds inequity.

On February 15, 2023, WATSON’s Alicia Williams spoke at a community event for Black History Month on the importance of history and storytelling for Black and other marginalized communities. She spoke about how the erasure of that history prevents people from knowing the many who came before and accomplished great things despite obstacles, and prevents people from outside of those groups from understanding, acknowledging, and appreciating the valuable contributions that have been made in our collective society.

It’s important to be able to see representations of people who look like you to know what is possible. For those groups whose histories are not told, it is like having to start from scratch to build it.

Thank you, Alicia, for sharing your story, and inviting us all to think about the stories we tell and are told.

This webinar is exclusive to members of the Council of Human Resources Executives of The Conference Board of Canada.

Oversight of culture was a growing priority in the boardroom even prior to the events of the past year, and these same headlines have pulled boards of directors much closer to what this responsibility and oversight of culture really means, and how it manifests in organizational performance. There is a clear trend towards high-performance boards engaging more deeply in the intentional design of culture, culture metrics, and ongoing monitoring of culture. 

Join WATSON Practice Leads Rachel O’Connor (Leadership & Performance) and Sharon Rudy (Director & Executive Search) as they share insights gained from working with multiple boards across sectors and discuss the implications for even greater leadership and influence by CHROs.  They’ll bring the topic: Do Boards Play a Role in Supporting Workplace Culture? to life with discussion, case studies and real experiences.

• HR Council – Eastern Canada – February 18, 2021
  • February 17-18, 2021 Virtual
• HR Council – Western Canada  – March 3, 2021
  • March 3-4, 2021 Virtual
• Joint HR Council meeting (Eastern and Western Canada) – TBD
  • June 9-11, 2021

Learn more here about membership to The Council of Human Resources Executives.

During the past year, we have all experienced a lot of turbulence — and there’s more ahead. As family business owners plan for the future, they’re having to be more flexible and consider multiple business scenarios.

Join WATSON and FEX on February 9, 2021 for the next panel with Julius Frohlich and Chris Massie where we will hear how far they are looking out and what they’re doing differently during their planning as they try to navigate uncertainty.

• What are some of the different scenarios that have been considered?
• How have they engaged their leaders and advisors to chart the course?
• Are they performing better or worse than planned?
• What adjustments have they made as a result?

Tuesday, February 9, 2021
1:00PM EDT/ 11:00AM MDT/ 10:00AM PDT

More information HERE

Registration HERE

PS: In case you missed the last WATSON/FEX webinar, catch it HERE!