In today’s environment, there are significant expectations placed on the shoulders of board members & directors of non-profit boards to not only discharge their legal, fiduciary responsibilities complying with the Charities Act, non-profit governance guidelines & relevant director legislation but to make a significant high-value contribution to the effectiveness of the board of directors. In many cases, boards do not have formal induction & training programmes to help prepare directors to be a highly effective member of the board team. Each board member & director, whether in a volunteer non-executive, CEO/executive or chairman capacity, has a specific responsibility to build and continually strengthen their director skillset to underpin a high-quality effective performance as part of a non-profit board team.
Board Excellence have developed a unique and highly practical programme for non-profit boards in Ireland & the UK to support the development of a board member’s skills and optimise their contribution to their board. Incorporating key elements of the board best practices workshop, this practical training programme has been designed for both new and existing board members looking to enhance their board skill set in line with the latest Irish & UK non-profit governance codes and company law. The workshop covers general board member areas as well as specific areas for non-executive, CEO/executive and chairman board members. At the core of this training programme is the Board Director Effectiveness model ( Figure 1 ) which provides a framework to support a board member’s development and contribution as a high-quality valued member of a board.
Key focus areas
- Director responsibilities
- Preparation for & engagement at board meetings
- Effective high-quality contribution
- Non-executive directors – independence & impartiality
- CEO & Executive directors partnership with board
- Chairman – board leadership
- Relationship with fellow board members
- Constructive challenge of executives & other board members
- Crisis Management
- Financial & legal – assessment & compliance
- Risk management
Workshop format
This programme is delivered in a 3-hour workshop format to a non-profit board or sub-set of board members. This workshop can be incorporated into the board meeting schedule, a board off-site, annual/strategic planning session or as a standalone event. This workshop can either be delivered on-site within an organisation or externally at a convenient local hotel location.
Benefits
- Overview of non-profit board member responsibilities based on latest non-profit corporate governance standards and national director law
- Introduction to best practices for high perfomance effective boards
- Key skills & best-practices for non-profit board members
- Practical guidance on how board members can optimise their contribution, effectiveness and performance.