Good governance policies and procedures

So you’re on a Board of Trustees and want to achieve “good governance”. But you don’t know where your role as a Trustee starts and finishes nor how you should relate to the Manager/Kaiwhakahaere?

Tricky governance issues but nothing that some good policies and procedures can’t fix.

Governance policies

At the Policy Place we are often working on governance policies. They are essential for our online members who are subject to Social Sector Accreditation Standards and the Ngā Paerewa Health and disability services Standard.

Our members are typically on boards on a voluntary basis, holding full-time jobs at the same time. They can be responsible for administering extensive budgets, a large number of staff and the delivery of a range of human services in areas like health, education and social services.

Good governance policies and procedures are, therefore, crucial to helping them fulfill their governance responsibilities.

What’s good governance about?

Good governance is typically characterised in terms of eight or nine characteristics:

Participatory – provides opportunity to people to have a voice and express their opinion.

Legally compliant – works within their Constitution or Trust Deed and the legal/regulatory framework including the Treaty of Waitangi, Employment and Human rights law.

Transparency – makes decisions and approves policies and procedures in a transparent way. Governance processes and records are accessible.

Responsive – processes and decisions consider and respond to the community of stakeholders the Board/Trust is set up to serve and to changes in the regulatory environment.

Consensus-oriented – governance decision-making ideally reflects a consensus approach at least as a first effort. Decisions should be acceptable to the community the organisation serves.

Equitable and inclusive –  people are treated fairly and barriers to participation in governance are proactively addressed.

Effective – governance decisions should be informed and aim to be effective and efficient.

Accountability – governance members are prepared to be responsible and accountable to their community and stakeholders and are prepared to discuss the reasons for their decisions.

These principles are more relevant to the performance of a board or Trust.  They are important but not all of what’s needed.

Other things that are important for policies and procedures include:

• Declaration and management of conflicts of interest
• Delegations
• Board and  Kaiwhakahaere relationship
• Subcommittees
• Board Roles and Responsibilities in areas like health and safety and financial management.
• Conflict and Dispute Resolution
• Board Expenses/Remuneration.

Are you OVER policies and procedures?

Did you know that the Policy Place provides policies and procedures online so you and your staff can access them 24/7?  And not just that. There are options to customise the policies yourself while we keep the core content of policies updated.

So… why not let go of the worry and stress of having to update your policies.

Contact us to join our online policy service.