By Julie Garland McLellan on April 7, 2012
Kate is a director on the board of a large national not-for-profit company. The board is comprised of well-intentioned and conscientious professionals who bring diverse viewpoints and bountiful energy to their board discussions. None of them are qualified in governance or have experience on other boards but all take their responsibilities seriously and strive to [...]
By Julie Garland McLellan on March 6, 2012
James is a recently-appointed director on the board of a family business. He is the nephew of the founder and has worked in the business for several years since completing his MBA. He is concerned because the board meetings are all taken up with historical reports and endless discussions of ‘who did what’ and how [...]
By Julie Garland McLellan on January 24, 2012
Company directors are currently working harder than ever before as they attempt to steer their companies through the chaos caused by the global financial crisis. Many organisations that have suffered (or even precipitated) the crisis displayed most of the externally visible attributes of good governance. Good governance structures and reporting are associated with good corporate [...]
By Carter McNamara on December 10, 2011
(Part 1 of 2 is Benefits of Involving Board in Projects for Change) One of the jobs of the Board is to continuously ensure the high-performance of the organization. Certainly, there can be many perspectives on what “high performance” means, for example, to always satisfy needs of stockholders or stakeholders or to always achieve strategic [...]
By Julie Garland McLellan on November 21, 2011
Graham worked as a management consultant assisting the national operations of a company that has grown over twenty years acquiring ‘non-family’ shareholders who now account for 40% of the capital. The founder’s son, who owns 10% of the shares, heads an overseas division and is a director. The founder retains the remaining 50% and is [...]
By Julie Garland McLellan on October 31, 2011
The difference between chief executive and Managing Director is one of the subtleties that can confuse board members. Boards have the right to delegate the tasks of running the organisation to any person they rationally believe is capable of performing them. When the board delegates those tasks to one of the directors, that person becomes known as [...]
By Hank Lewis on October 11, 2011
I do know at least one person who has been the chair of a board for over 20 years (a big organization). Is that unusual? It is an extremely unhealthy situation, but is not unusual for an NPO that never grew up. I’d expect that the same people are doing the same things they’ve done, [...]
By Julie Garland McLellan on September 27, 2011
One of the longest running and most passionately argued debates on LinkedIn concerns the issue of payment for directors of not-for-profit organisation boards. Although the focus of the mainstream press has remained fixed on the high salaries of executive directors and the apparent abuses of performance hurdles so that executives are rewarded for destroying, rather [...]
By Julie Garland McLellan on April 18, 2011
When the Lead Independent Director role was first introduced it was viewed with suspicion. Now, in companies where the incumbent has performed well, it is viewed as an essential component of board success.
By Julie Garland McLellan on January 31, 2011
Leadership development is an important aspect of the director role, and not just something that is recommended for executives. All directors should review their own leadership skills from time to time and determine what and how to improve.
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organization development and consultant training services, and is developer of the Free Management Library.
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Julie Garland-McLellan uses her experience and depth of knowledge in corporate governance to show boards with limited resources how to be more effective through practical governance innovation and know-how.
Nick Lindsay of Elemental CoSec, provides corporate governance, legal and company secretarial advice to a wide range of companies in the UK.
