Switched-on non-executive directors will ensure climate change remains on a board’s agenda.
The exciting world of the non-executive director (NED)! Just as you thought we were emerging from Covid, companies are thrown back into the choppy waves of ‘climate change, with a surge of motivated interest groups, governments and ‘woke’ investors. With plenty of isolation time to fill during the pandemic, COP26 and the plethora of climate change documentaries and shows became avid viewing.
Switched-on non-executive directors will ensure climate change remains on a board’s agenda.
The exciting world of the non-executive director (NED)! Just as you thought we were emerging from Covid, companies are thrown back into the choppy waves of ‘climate change, with a surge of motivated interest groups, governments and ‘woke’ investors. With plenty of isolation time to fill during the pandemic, COP26 and the plethora of climate change documentaries and shows became avid viewing.
The FRC (Financial Reporting Council) Review of Corporate Governance Reporting published in November 2021, continues to document the slow glacial creep towards better corporate governance reporting.
We have as Boards, a period of grace to ‘get our act together’ and improve the consistency and general standards of Board Reporting on governance matters in the Report and Accounts. Or it could it be taken out of our hands by the newly created Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA).
The Report highlighted the lack of illumination of the Boards reporting on governance matters, with a patchwork of minimal, lawyer driven ‘what’s the least we have to say for this compliance point’. This contrasts against the FRC’s desire to see a coherent, integrated and strategic approach to governance development reporting.
Anniversaries are useful markers, and even the happiest ones offer potential for both celebration and review. The wisdom of Sir Adrian Cadbury, who provided the basis for the UK’s Corporate Governance Code, has served us exceedingly well.
When most people think about effective leadership of an organisation, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the executive team comprising of the C-Suite of roles along with any business critical functions and key directors holding those roles. But in the context of good governance, effective leadership depends on a well-tuned Board; a critical success factor to achieve this is healthy board dynamics.
By Helen Pitcher for HR Magazine
The Harvard Business Review (HBR) articles raise some good analysis of HR – even if collected under an incendiary title
The first article recognises that the Europe/UK context is different to the US and is undergoing a ‘paradigm shift’ at board level, with the board taking greater governance responsibility for key areas of the HR agenda that goes beyond the usual “people are our most important asset” statement.
As the HBR articles suggest, recognising the fundamental business context of companies is important and provides the backdrop for analysing the potential role HR can play in an organisation at any point in time.
New research suggests that ‘regulation creep’ is deterring NEDs looking at roles in Financial Services
Incoming regulations designed to make company boards more accountable for corporate failings could have a dramatic and damaging effect on the diversity on Britain’s biggest financial services businesses and the way their Boards are run, according to a new report.
Advanced Boardroom Excellence, a leading board effectiveness consultancy, and Tyzack Partners, the international executive search firm, are highlighting that the financial services sector could be in for a shock when it comes to recruiting new blood from 2016 onwards.
The report, entitled ‘Walking the Tightrope of Board Responsibility – a Difficult Balancing Act’, suggests that the introduction of the ‘Senior Managers’ Regime’ next year could act as a deterrent to and lead to a narrowing of experienced and capable business people considering non-executive directorships at leading financial services companies.
An article by Helen Pitcher
I read with sadness the piece by Matthew Goodman in The Sunday’s Times about the Co-operative Group. Goodman suggests that the appointment of Mark Bicknell, a veteran of the Co-op, who has been on various area committees since 2005, was perhaps not quite the radical overhaul modernisers hoped for.
An article by Advanced Boardroom Excellence for Governance
First published by Governance, May 2014, Issue 239
Helen Pitcher argues that succession planning needs to be broader than simply board level appointments and should include identifying the talent pipeline within.
'… succession needs a 20-year horizon not the limited three- to five-year horizon that spans a typical CEO’s tenure. Interestingly, organisations that have focused in depth on such matters have had long-standing CEO’s, stellar performance and a clear and deeper focus on their talent, providing both formal development, stretch assignments and exposure to the board.'
An article by Advanced Boardroom Excellence for Governance
Helen Pitcher looks at the emergence of the external independent board evaluation market and a new draft Code of Conduct for the industry.
'Recognising true board effectiveness is not just a matter of governance, important though that is, but of addressing boardroom behaviour at an individual and collective level.'
