Articles

A Positive Wind-Up For The Centre For Sustainability Leadership

After 13 years of training and support, the Centre of Sustainability Leadership (CSL) reached a natural end to its ground-breaking run. Under the guidance of the board, CSL is handing over its intellectual property, brand and the 1000+ alumni to the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI). ‘Sustainability’ was a word that offered optimism and opportunity when co-founders Larissa Brown and Jason Clarke kicked off CSL back in 2004. Larissa was the visionary who seeded the leadership training idea through the Greensteps Program for Monash Sustainable Development Program.

Get Real: What Are The Questions Boards Need to be Asking During Mergers and Acquisitions?

So you’re on a not-for-profit board and the question of a merger or acquisition comes up. What’s your primary objective as a board member as you navigate these often complex discussions? Is it: To safeguard the organisation’s legacy? To rigorously examine the potential business case and its financial viability? To thoroughly explore the risks and push for detailed due diligence on the potential partner? To dust off your AICD training (or get legal advice) on your fiduciary duties as a Director during a transaction?

The Collective Voice – A Crucial Leadership Element

Numerous professional development resources dispense advice with the presumption that directors will approach objectives with a shared attitude and intent, that the board will reach a consensual decision and speak with a collective voice. The reality is that often this is far from the case. Resolution can be difficult and that collective voice may be impossible to achieve. While healthy dissent can be a sign of an effective board, differences – habitually ill-managed – are obvious drivers that can lead to substantive leadership and organisational damage.

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.