Articles

Reforming an NFP Service Provider: It Starts with the Board

Remember the halcyon days of government outsourcing, before the introduction of individualised, contract funding for social services? This was a time when the not-for-profit service provider could maintain ‘business as usual’ in the satisfying knowledge that the next government grant was due, in advance, for defined services, to a specific client cohort. Back then, governance and accountability were within the ability of community committees. There was little need for unitary costing, transaction cost economics, growth strategies and grand marketing plans.

Top Tips For Developing Collaborative Leaders

To illustrate how workforce requirements are changing, the DDI Global Leadership Survey (2018) found that collaborating within and across organisational boundaries is regarded by CEOs as a premium capability. Working collaboratively is harder than your leaders might think because it’s about balancing common agendas with individual goals. For example, when helping leaders from grassroots community organisations, not-for-profits, government departments and the business sector come together in a regional New South Wales town to pursue indigenous employment outcomes, we first focused on articulating the common goal and developing collaborative ways of working, which contributed to its success.

Practical Ways To Improve Boardroom Dynamics

It is now widely recognised that board dynamics are a central driver in producing strong organisational outcomes. This involves not only the relationships among board members but also between the board and senior management. However, this can a difficult area for boards to deal with even when dysfunctional relationships are hindering good governance and impeding sound decision‑making. The following are some practical ways in which a board can reinforce or improve its dynamics.

5 Strategies to Measure and Embed Trust in Your NFP

If you have listened to the news in the last 12 months, you would almost be forgiven for thinking organisations are awash with unethical behaviour. Governance failures have shaken community trust in not-for-profits (NFPs), banking institutions, sporting codes and churches. Today, it is no longer feasible for boards to assume all is well in their organisation. In fact, assuming good intent can often lead to blind spots that allow bad conduct to flourish.

From Inc to Ltd: Making the change to Company Limited by Guarantee

Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations face more demand for structure, accountability and transparency than ever before. Not only are there more NFPs that are growing into multi-million and multi-billion dollar entities, but there are also more public and government expectations of NFPs than in the past. In line with this trend, NFPs around Australia have been transferring from incorporated association to company limited by guarantee and this trend continues to grow, especially in increasingly competitive markets.

How to Embed Cultural Safety in Healthcare Governance

Cultural safety for Australia’s First Peoples (which includes the terms Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islanders, and Indigenous Australians) has emerged as a key principle to address for healthcare executives through organisational governance. However, there are no guidelines that Boards Directors can use to restructure their governance practices to become culturally safe. This article provides some cultural safety principles for Board Directors to consider when responding to the demands of legislators, accreditors, professional associations, and healthcare staff for healthcare governance to become culturally safe.

Listen: Take Notice of and Act on What Someone Says

“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view …until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”1 Many of us have been consumers and carers. Whether it’s shopping, queuing for an event, visiting a GP, picking kids up after school, or supporting an ageing parent.

Keeping it Simple by Emphasising Purpose

Complexity abounds in modern organisations, including in their boards. Many organisations – of all sizes – are run as if they are bureaucracies, with lots of hierarchy and lots of organisational rules. Of course, some hierarchy and some rules can be appropriate and can help organisations achieve their missions. However, there is an increasing trend towards challenging bureaucracies from thought leaders such as Ricardo Semler of Brazilian company Semco; Frederic Laloux and his influential book Reinventing Organizations; and Yves Morieux of Boston Consulting Group and his six rules for simplifying organisations.

How Cost Effective is Your Board?

The job of the board is to direct. That involves making decisions about what to do, how to organise, and who to engage with to further the purpose of the organisation. Those decisions, if taken reasonably and well, will require management support. Increased demands for governance reporting and enhanced diversity will impact not-for-profit company boards in many ways. The three of the most feared are: a possible imposition of direct board costs as new independent professional directors demand recompense for the time, effort and risk involved in the role the increased cost of servicing a larger board, especially in the crucial first few months of each appointment when directors’ demands for information are often at their highest the ever growing costs of providing reports requested or expected by external stakeholders that are diligently reviewed by the board yet add little value to their decision-making.

The Three-Wheel Framework of Customer-Centricity

We are now living in a world where customers have more choices than ever before and organisations face the challenge of distinguishing themselves from the dozens of nearly identical providers, products and services. Adopting a customer-centric approach is one approach to tackling this test for organisations. What is customer-centricity? Customer-centricity refers to the strategy of putting customers front and centre in the organisation’s strategy and activities. Customer-centric organisations are designed from the outside in: defining who the customer is, what they care about, and how they interact with the organisation.