The Governance Health Check

Good governance is a set of habits, not a policy folder.

I have sat on both sides of the boardroom table. As CEO of five different organisations, and in fifteen years carrying that accountability, I have seen the same pattern play out more than once.

Boards that assume their governance is sound rarely test that assumption until something forces the question, an ill-timed resignation, a regulator's letter, or a member complaint that turns out to be a pattern rather than an outlier.

This tool gives your board an honest, evidence-based way to check which habits are actually in place, across the seven domains that determine whether governance holds up under real pressure.

• 01Purpose, Strategy & Direction — is the board setting strategy, or just endorsing it?
• 02Board Composition & Renewal — skills, succession and deliberate recruitment
• 03Roles, Authority & the CEO–Board Relationship — where governance ends and management begins
• 04Risk Oversight & Compliance — a live risk register, not a historical one
• 05Financial Stewardship — real scrutiny, not procedural sign-off
• 06Member & Stakeholder Accountability — data over anecdote
• 07Culture, Conduct & Performance — what happens in the room when no one outside is watching