It must be Christmas!

The spycam in the board room reveals the truth - there's nobody there, it must be Christmas!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year - see you in 2011.

Lord Abersoch and Women on the Board - too little

Has anything much changed or is this still too often the reality? BIS released the following text today regarding women in UK board rooms - too little movement?!?

"The CBI has today submitted a detailed response to the call for evidence as part of my review into women on boards. I welcome the hard work that has been put into this and their recommendations will help to inform the final report that I will present to Government in February.

"I am pleased to see that this issue has got a strong push behind it from business, but as the recently published Cranfield report highlighted there has been too little movement on diversity in the boardroom for too long. To see a step change on this we need to everyone to pull together, British businesses and their shareholders, the Government and the headhunting profession, to deliver the changes that will help women to achieve these roles."

Notes to editors
1. Lord Davies was tasked by Vince Cable on 6^th August to develop a business strategy to increase the number of women on the board of listed companies in the UK. Lord Davies is expected to report his findings to government in February 2011.

2. The call for evidence as part of Lord Davies review of the lack of women on British boards closed on Tuesday 30^th November 2010, after receiving more than 2,600 responses.

3. BIS' online newsroom contains the latest press notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR MERVYN DAVIES REVIEW

To consider options for promoting gender equality on the Boards of listed companies. In doing so to consider the obstacles to women becoming directors of listed company boards including looking at existing research about women on listed company boards and recent developments in international practice and to make proposals on what action should be taken to improve the position.

It should involve interested parties including Board members, executive search firms, investors and other interested parties in considering proposals for change.

The business strategy will be presented jointly to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Minister for Women and Equalities. The business strategy should deliver a set of recommendations with supporting material outlining the thinking behind the recommendations and the views of key interested parties. The final recommendations should be provided by February 2011.

"Governance reporting poor in UK" FTfm 06/12/10

Monday's FTfm comments on the poor level of Governance reporting in the FTSE 350 - according to a Grant Thornton FTSE 350 Corporate Governance Review Dec 2010 http://www.grant-thornton.co.uk/thinking_blogs/publications/corporate_governance_report_20.aspx

The article and report are worth reading. Is it true, or are Grant Thornton drumming up trade for their compliance team? Only you can decide...

Has the Board Lost Touch???

The current issue of Management Today has a great cartoon depicting the remoteness of senior management. Having spent the weekend putting together a rough first-draft of a Board Performance Self-evaluation Questionnaire, I thought I would share the cartoon with you and the first section of the questionnaire as I think they go together rather well!

If the cartoon reflects the performance of your organization (which I am sure it won’t) then you would almost certainly be scoring very low in each of the questions.

Please have a look at the questions and the scoring mechanism and let me have your thoughts for improvement.

Please read the statements below and give your opinion as to the performance of your organisation based on the following scale:

1. Poor

2. Mediocre

3. Acceptable

4. Good

5. Best-practice

The Board...

1 works collectively in taking responsibility for the long-term success of the organisation

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

2 delivers entrepreneurial leadership, identifying areas of opportunity, taking calculated

risks

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

3 members each understand their statutory duties as directors

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

4 members each act in the best interest of the organisation

1.

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3.

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5.

5 clearly defines its risk appetite

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6 effectively assesses and manages risk

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

7 effectively sets the organisation’s strategic aims

1.

2.

3.

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5.

8 effectively sets the company’s values and standards

1.

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5.

9 ensures that the necessary financial resources are in place

1.

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5.

10 ensures that the necessary human resources are in place

1.

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3.

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5.

11 effectively and regularly reviews management performance

1.

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5.

12 ensures it fully understands its obligations to its shareholders and others

1.

2.

3.

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5.

13 ensures it fully meets its obligations to shareholders and others

1.

2.

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5.

14 meets sufficiently regularly to discharge its duties

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3.

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5.

15 has an appropriate and formal schedule of reserved matters

1.

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5.

16 operates with a clear division of responsibility between the running of the board and

the executive responsibility of running the organisation

1.

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3.

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5.

17 operates with a clear and documented division of responsibility between the Chairman and the Chief Executive

1.

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5.

18 ensures that concerns that cannot be resolved about the running of

the company or a proposed action are recorded in the board minutes

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5.