At the heart of all successful transformations is good governance. It will protect the organisation from poor decisions and exposure to risk, yet at the same time it can transform the organisation’s performance from top to bottom. In my view, teamwork is the essence of good governance.
On the flipside, poor governance can have a negative impact on the future of the organisation. In some cases, it can expose individual board members and senior leaders to threats of personal liability and loss of reputation. Poor governance can contribute to spectacular failures.
What are some key elements and essential ingredients of good transformation governance?
- Adopt clear measures of expected value and how that value is determined;
- Ensure clear decision-making roles;
- Ensure governance looks at ‘actual’ versus ‘expected’ transformation outcomes;
- Ensure the team has a clear exception protocol;
- Ensure funding models recognise several types of investment and don’t adopt a ‘one size fits all’ model;
- Ensure the Governance group has the right operating rhythm with meeting frequency; and
- Pull the plug on failing initiatives early.
Expecting a complex change initiative to go well using anything less than good governance puts the entire transformation at risk.
Put the same amount of effort into your governance arrangement as you would into the business case to support the transformation of your business. Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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