Board Performance & Metrics

Unleashing the Power of Purpose

In Aaron Hurst’s book ‘The Purpose Economy’, he says “purpose comes when we know we have done something that we believe matters, to others, to society, and to ourselves.” Hurst believes that the nature of purpose is often misunderstood, a point of particular relevance to leaders of for-purpose (not-for-profit) organisations both at board and executive level. Our suggestion is that there is untapped potential in connecting to the power of purpose – both at an individual and organisational level.

Critical Success Factors for Social Enterprises

We asked Michael Dawson, CEO of CBB the not4profit people about what advice he had for organisations in the early stages of starting up. He shared with us his seven critical success factors for start-up social enterprises. This article is extracted from a longer interview conducted with Michael for the podcast SproutCast. 1. Put your mission first “The first of our critical success factors is to have a very strong focus on mission… We need to have a focus, a clear articulation of our purpose and in Simon Sinek’s language: our “why”.

Why Good Boards Behave Badly - Improving Your Board’s Performance Through Best Practice Boardroom Behaviours

High-performing boards know that organisational sustainability is reliant upon vigilant monitoring of key performance indicators. Similarly, boards need to review their performance against best practice governance frameworks. However, one critical corporate governance indicator of best practice is often overlooked. The unexpected board performance indicator In 2009, Sir David Walker1 reviewed corporate governance in UK banks in light of corporate collapses. The terms of reference for the review were broad with the government seeking recommendations for a framework for best practice corporate governance.

The Path to Effective NFP Board and Director Evaluations

In the past, board performance in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector was seen to not need to be at the same standard as that required in the commercial sector. Thankfully, this view is changing, as it is far from the truth. Whether an organisation is focused on obtaining a profit or not, its governing body (whether it is a board, council or other grouping) should be adding value to that organisation, not hindering organisational performance.

How To Perform a Self-Health Check-up for NFPs

“How do we know that we are doing well?” “Do we really need to ask and pay someone else to say that we are a healthy organisation or an organisation in need of help?” “We did ask someone else before about whether we are performing well or not, and we realised that we knew all the answers when the outsider started to talk about the solutions we were searching for. We didn’t exactly know the questions though.

Self-Assessment of Board Performance

A recurring theme in the nonprofit governance literature is the need for board performance assessments to be conducted regularly by non-profit boards. Some governance experts have developed approaches to board performance evaluation based on adherence to strict normative models while others have developed more detailed instruments and recommendations reviewing a wide range of board practices. Others have pointed out that, while many nonprofits may recognize the value of assessing board performance, they lack the capacity to: a) carry out the technical work of gathering and analyzing board performance information; b) apply that information to making decisions about changes in board performance; and c) track the impact of changes in governance practices over time.