_pn.png)
Your organisation deserves an
exceptional board that steps up to its leadership role
Board Conversation Programme
What makes a
board exceptional?
The most effective boards follow governance best practices and...
Ask the right questions to ensure that the organisation is heading in the right direction.
Bring their diverse knowledge and perspectives to the table to benefit the discussions.
Work in partnership with management to focus all efforts on the right priorities.
Aren’t afraid to make tough decisions to respond to risks and take advantage of opportunities.
Get the best possible outcome by challenging each other’s ideas.
With the Board Conversations Programme...
You can raise your board to an exceptional level
Online, self-paced,
flexible learning for all board members and your CEO or manager
Suitable for all boards, regardless of experience and knowledge
“It’s like having your very own governance trainer in the boardroom all year round.”
The right resources for
every situation, applicable
in the moment
Board Health Check
Exceptional boards reflect
on their performance
You’ll start the Board Conversations Programme with a self-assessment of your board.
This has two outcomes:
You’ll have the first benchmark of your board’s performance.
You’ll know what areas need improvement.
After your board has completed at least 8 lessons, assess your performance again to see your progress.
Core lessons
Exceptional boards have
a framework for
productive conversations
and continuous learning
Every lesson provides your board with crucial knowledge and conversation starters around a key governance topic.
You can go through a lesson in just around
15 minutes at your board meeting.
Each lesson contains:
A PDF pre-reading sheet to familiarise everyone with the topic.
A short video (about 10 min) explaining the topic that your board can view together.
An action list template to help you implement the learning straight away.
10 core lessons cover the essential responsibilities
of boards
Always kept up-to-date with the latest best practices in governance.
You can anticipate new lessons covering even more relevant topics.
What is Governance?
Explore what the role of the board is and how it differs from management.
Legal responsibilities
Discover the three main areas that impact your legal responsibilities and obligations.
Managing Management
Learn to manage the crucial relationship with the CEO or manager of your organisation.
Finances
Learn how to monitor the financial wellbeing of your organisation.
Board behaviours
Understand how the behaviour of the board affects the quality and ability of the board and the organisation.
What boards do
Get to know the five main responsibilities of boards and why they are important.
Structuring effective board meetings
Master having productive board meetings through effective preparation.
Strategic Leadership
Discover your role in determining the purpose and strategy of your organisation.
Decision-making
Learn how to make even tough decisions and delegate effectively.
Risks and opportunities
Master identifying and controlling risk while balancing the need to take on new opportunities.
Get all the support you need to take your board to exceptional
A board conversations subscription gives you unlimited email advice from our consultants.
Access our online Governance Library 24/7 for more resources, tools, and guidance.
How you can implement the Board Conversations Programme
Step One
Choose a lesson
Your Board Health Check will have provided you with an indication which topics are a priority for your board.
Step Two
Schedule time
Add a regular 15-minute slot to your board meeting agenda. Call it something like ‘Our time’ or ‘Focusing on us’
Step Three
Do the pre-reading
Send the pre-reading sheet to your board members with the standard board meeting papers.
Everyone can already familiarise themselves with the topic you want to discuss.
Step Four
Meet and discuss
As a group, watch the lesson video on a computer or tablet at the meeting.
Using the guiding questions, discuss how you can apply the principles in your organisation.
Step Five
Plan your actions
Finish your conversation by deciding the next steps and writing them on your action plan.
Send the action plan to us to receive tips and feedback on how you can improve further.
Benefit from 20+ years of governance experience
I’m Carol Scholes, founder of Overview Effect.
After working with hundreds of not-for-profit boards for 20+ years, I’ve noticed that the current training methods aren’t enabling sustainable changes in governance practices.
Based on my experience, you can now access the Board conversations programme specifically designed for boards and the needs of their board members.
Challenges of current governance
training methods
How Overview Effect solves these challenges
Most governance training focuses on learning on the individual level.
Only one board member attends training and has to influence the rest of the board.
This is hardly successful in changing the board's behaviour.
In the Board Conversations Programme, the whole board learns and grows together.
Also, everyone receives individual logins to access the resources at any time from anywhere.
Hiring a consultant to give training to the whole board isn’t always successful either.
To minimize the cost and time commitment from board members, training sessions are often too few or too short.
Too much information is squeezed into a short time, and board members reach an overload in what they can process and apply.
The Board Conversations Programme becomes a natural part of every board meeting.
Board members don’t have to take any extra time out of their busy schedule for training.
You can learn at your own pace and apply every lesson right in the moment.
Most training has a short-lived effect on the board’s governance practices.
Information is quickly out-of-date in our rapidly changing environment.
And when board members change, their knowledge and shared understanding of governance get lost.
You can add or change board members at any time during your subscription at no extra cost.
The programme is always updated with the latest information and best practices on governance.
You can anticipate new lessons covering even more relevant topics.
Get year-round
Governance training
for your whole board
For less than the cost of
a one-day training with a consultant
Annual Board Subscription
Empower your CEO /manager and up to 9 board members with the latest governance best practices, strategies, and tools. Learn and improve together as a board to better deliver on your organisation’s purpose.
Introductory Price
Includes
-
Board Conversations Programme
-
Board Health Check
-
Implementation guide
-
Unlimited email access to our consultants
-
Access to our Governance Library
-
Board member essentials bundle
-
Individual login for each board member and your CEO or manager.
Add or change board members at any time during your subscription at no extra cost.
“Carol’s depth of experience and forthright facilitation style has helped navigate some interesting discussions and I have always been left deeply proud of the result and excited for the implementation stage! The charitable sector is richer for Carol’s contribution.”
Nicola Keen-Biggelaar
CEO Drowning Prevention Auckland
"As a registered charity run by volunteers, we found it difficult to work out best practices for governance. Carol explained key concepts and best practices to us and gave us great value advice as we navigated our way through board recruitment, employment and trust deed changes. Thanks Carol."
Hugh Batten
Chair Gribblehirst Community Hub
Everyone benefits from exceptional boards
Individual board members ...
Develop important governance and leadership skills.
Have more effective board meetings with less frustration.
The organisation ...
Navigates challenges and embraces new opportunities.
Is proactive rather than reactive to changing circumstances.
Know how to approach any situation.
Can retain board members for longer.
Enjoy better relationships with each other and the stakeholders.
Gains clarity with regard to strategy, policy, and budget.
Get maximum value for their time spent on the board.
Attracts more support from funders, donors, and the community.
Make a real difference to your cause.
Gains trust and respect.
Better delivers on its purpose.
Better delivers on its purpose.