I recently commissioned some market research, and whilst the sample was far too small to validate any specific conclusion, it would be fair to say that the following comments typified something like 50% of respondents' attitude to corporate governance and specifically the UK Code:"We are reluctant converts"
"We tick all the boxes"
"They wouldn't opt in"
"A lot of it is frankly gobbledegook"
What use is UK's Corporate Governance Code?
I have been working with the application of business models for some 20 years now: TQM, BPR, TOC, BEM, EFQM, Lean, etc; all of which have been readily accepted by business and have enjoyed wide use in their time - all are generally seen as effective tools. In developing strategy I have worked with many widely accepted methodologies and tools: Boston matrices, Porter's work, Peter's, Handy, Cole, etc. etc., - all good and accepted with little argument.
"But these are all practical" I hear you cry - well to me, so it the Corporate Governance Code.
For me the Code is both a plumbline and a pathway for improvement. A board can use it to measure where it is, and to shine a light on where it could be - even outlining how! It is a board tool as opposed to a management tool and yet it is often passed to management to "deal with it".
What would it take to get boards to embrace the Code rather than just tick the boxes or shun it altogether? Answers on a post card...
No one is beyond improving their game and when we stop learning and developing we start dying. Even FTSE 100 board directors!
