There has been significant attention paid
to governance in the last few years, as more and more Native Title Prescribed
Body Corporates are incorporated, and the tide has turned from welfare-based
Government funded Australian Indigenous organisations towards well-run Not for
Profit entities and social ventures seeking the philanthropic dollar.
This is only right because governance
underpins the development of modern Aboriginal corporations as these seek to
make a sustainable and resilient existence in the “mainstreaming” of their
services.
In my work where I advise, guide, help plan
and facilitate the business of Indigenous Boards, I have seen this attention on
governance leading to a trend to appoint “Independent Directors” to the Boards
of PBC’s and Australian Indigenous NFP’s. The question however is whether the
emphasis on governance equates to a need to appoint Independent Directors, and
what should be the criteria used to select them?
Firstly we should define the term. In
actual fact, all Non-Executive Directors (those Directors who are not employed
by their corporations in an operational or executive capacity) are
“independent”. That is, they are “independent” of management. Indeed the legal
fiduciary duty of all Directors, including Executive Directors, includes the
duty to act for the good of the company, and not for any group, family or
interest they represent,...
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Harvard Business School change management guru John Kotter outlines the fundamental differences between Leadership and Management as follows:-
- Establishing direction vs Planning & Budgeting
- Aligning people vs Organising and staffing...
- Motivating & inspiring vs Controlling & Problem-solving.
In Kotter's view, while management produces an order of predictability, order, and the capacity to attain desired short term targets, the qualities of Leadership prodeuces change, often to a dramatic degree and often potentially useful change to create a future vision.
In my consulting, I use my own process called vision-driven planning, first creating a vision for the group (in great detail, to the degree that it is internally viable and credible) which is then quantified through a Balanced Scorecard approach ("If we were to achieve our vision, how must we look and behave in the area of..."). The quantification of the vision is converted into Performance Measures, and then these are redirected as Strategies.
It works exceptionally well for SME's in creating what I call a "POP" or Plan On a Page. However the obstruction I usually see is lack of "Leadership" in that often the SME owners and managers are extremely concerned with the now...
He believes that can only be achieved if the organisation and its leadership demonstrate some fundamental behaviour that point to resilience.
Resilience is not only important in the hard times or during change. It must also be demonstrated when business is going well. That can be a challenge for many leaders, who Oh says are generally suited to only one style of an economy.
Many perform well when the economy is also doing well. Other leaders rise to the challenge when the economy does badly; Oh points out that it is relatively easy to think of great leaders who have turned companies around. However, they may not have been so successful when the business was back on track.
Oh says resilience needs to be a constant, rather...
