This week, I’ve been in the Berkshires working with great nonprofits in the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation Nonprofit Learning Program. We’ve been talking about good governance.
First, always remember this! Corporate governance is a collective act – and only happens at board meetings. Read the board’s job description…that’s what you do at board meetings. How do you do that at board meetings…check out my due diligence outline. And if you’re not doing all this, at some point in some board meeting(s)…then you aren’t fulfilling your corporate governance responsibility.
Here’s one way to evaluate how well you’re doing with corporate governance: Conduct my governance self-assessment. Tabulate the responses and then talk about the results at a board meeting. Use your board’s Governance Committee to create a plan to improve your adherence to standards. Every few months, talk about another one of the governance standards. Figure out how to improve your performance.
