WATSON Views

Are you currently serving on a board? Thinking about accepting a directorship? Or interested in learning more about what such a commitment entails? Are you in a governance role and interested in building and sustaining an effective board?

You’ll want to read CPA Canada’s newly released 20 Questions Directors Should Ask about Building and Sustaining an Effective Board, authored by Elizabeth Watson, QC. 

Informed by WATSON’s deep expertise in governance and years of advising hundreds of individual directors, boards and organizations, 20 Questions sets out the best current thinking on:

• recruitment and retention of board members,
• board renewal,
• setting term limits,
  the meaning of “diversity” and how to achieve it,
• directorial independence, and a range of other topics.

The most significant contributor to a high performing board is the quality and experience of individuals serving on the board and the way they work together. Practical, insightful and informative, 20 Questions – Building and Sustaining an Effective Board guides you through the various stages of a board’s evolution from creation through to renewal.

Directors, aspiring directors, shareholders and others who want to explore, refresh, or deepen their understanding of how board composition impacts an organization’s ability to meet its strategic objectives, can download this practical and comprehensive document here.

The Australian Institute of Company Directors has announced a major initiative as part of a long-running campaign to improve gender diversity in Australian boardrooms.

The AICD has in the past played a leading role in the debate on board diversity. The new diversity policy asks all boards to ensure that 30 per cent of their directors are female and urges S&P/ASX200 companies to meet this new target by the end of 2018.

The new policy recognises the clear benefits that diversity brings to a board and the operations of an organisation. Importantly the policy sets a target – not a quota. A key facts sheet can be found here.

To read more the full media release click here.

The new, highly-anticipated Societies Act was introduced as Bill 24 in the British Columbia legislature for its first reading on March 25, 2015. If passed, the Societies Act will replace the current Society Act, which was enacted in 1977. WATSON is following the progress of Bill 24 and will provide updates here.

Is your board engaged and motivated – or bored, disengaged and frustrated?

In our work over the past decade, with hundreds of organizations, we have seen a direct correlation between a competent, engaged board and organizational success. The best boards govern with intention, first embracing responsibility for the success of their organization and then ensuring that each governance activity is carried out in a purposeful and proactive way to support that success. Engaged board members understand the organizational context, focus their efforts on the right issues, carry out their work with intention and engage constructively (among themselves and with staff) through dialogue that is challenging, persuasive and inspiring.

To read the full article, written by our own Liz Watson and Bradley Chisholm, click here!