Golf Management Australia Spring 2017 | Page 22

TIME FOR A LITTLE GOVERNANCE SPRING CLEANING Completion of the Governance Fundamentals e-learning course invites clubs to review and perhaps clean-up their governance system. A clean-up won’t happen on its own but it will happen… as a result of conversations between board members and managers. Here’s seven useful governance questions that the e-learning module may prompt: 1. How can we as a board and management be doing this better? 2. How much board time are we spending in monitoring operations, or discussing operational matters compared to dealing with issues of policy and planning the club’s future? 3. How are (or: Are) our sub- committees helping our board do its (real board) work? 4. Are our policies sufficiently established to guide and empower management and staff to operate the club? Boards are the informed voice and agent of the members. Members should expect boards to have a robust governance system and a focus on the future needs of the club. The Governance Fundamentals course is a great chance to do some Spring cleaning. There are lots of governance resources ready to adapt to your club. The course is designed for boards and managers, is $49.50 to register and takes around an hour to complete. Go to: www.golf.org.au/clubsupport 5. How can we plan the year to ensure our board fulfils its range of governance responsibilities? 6. How will we know if we’re getting better? 7. What steps should we be taking now to get quality people to join our board in future? 22 I GOLF MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA I SPRING EDITION 2017