The importance of inducting your Board

I am writing this article afresh from our latest Annual General Meeting and appointment of new Directors to the Board.  Induction of the new Board (all Board Members) is priority one to achieve before the first official meeting of the new Board.

Who is responsible for the content and presentation of this induction?  The General Manager and supporting Management Team play a very large role in this induction with the support and counsel of the Chairperson of the Board.  The induction that we held was delivered by me as the General Manager and our Financial Controller and we covered the following topics:

1.       Introducing the Vision, Mission and Values of the Club – these are included below for your information.

Lonsdale Links Vision, Mission & Values Statement

2.      Going through the structure and people at the Club – our structure is pictured below.

Lonsdale Links Governance Structure

3.       Introducing (or re-introducing) the core Director Duties and bringing them to life with examples (the Australian Institute of Company Directors has fantastic resources to draw on - https://www.aicd.com.au/board-of-directors/duties/liabilities-of-directors/general-duties-of-directors.html):

a.      Act in good faith and for a proper purpose.

b.      Act with reasonable care, skill and diligence

c.      Not to improperly use information or position

d.      Disclose and manage conflicts of interest.

4.      Introducing the key roles that the Board and its Directors should play:

a.      Strategy: Establish strategies to guide, monitor and control the organisation’s activities.

b.      Resources: Make resources available to achieve the strategy and oversee their use.

c.      Performance: Monitor the organisation’s performance.

d.      Compliance: Oversee processes to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

e.      Risk: Oversee a risk management framework that supports informed decision-making by the organisation.

f.       Accountability: Report progress and align the collective interests of Members, stakeholders, board, management and employees.

5.      Ensure that the concept of Risk (defined as the effect of uncertainty on objectives) is well understood covering the following key points:

a.      Challenge assumptions in decision-making;

b.      Take actions that will increase the likelihood that a desired outcome will be achieved;

c.      Identify early signs that an undesirable event may occur and take pre-emptive action to address it;

d.      Learn from successes and failures in a way that improves decision-making over time; and

e.      Consider whether previous decisions remain valid and, if necessary, revise them.

6.      Introducing the various policy documents that need to be understood by the Directors such as:

a.       Rules of Association

b.      By-Laws

c.      Policy Documents

7.      Going through the Strategic Plan in some detail and the progress against the objectives here.

8.      A thorough overview and introduction to the Club’s financial position and associated reporting.  All Directors must understand the finance report!

9.      An understanding of the current agenda and action list.  Do not conduct any Club business during the Induction phase, focus on just the Induction.

10.      A site visit incorporating all of the facilities such as kitchen, pro shop, maintenance shed, admin office etc..  Department Managers should be on hand to introduce staff and take the Directors on a tour of their facilities.

This is by no means a comprehensive list when it comes to a Board induction, but hopefully that gives some insight to some of the things that the Club’s Management Team should look to cover during a new Board induction.  What are some other items that you cover in your Board induction?