Delivering change through effective governance

1. Delivering change through effective governance Care & Repair Cymru Stephanie Bamford Thursday 20September 2012

2. Self assessment – a definition • A comprehensive, systematic and regular review of an organisation’s activities and results referenced against a framework • Allows an organisation to know its strengths and areas where improvements can be made • Outcome is planned improvement actions that are then monitored for progress

3. What is self assessment? • An integral part of the co-regulatory environment • It can be used to create a strong, local, supporting evidence base • It is a useful tool to improve accountability … • … and service improvement • Driven and owned by boards • Strong customer focus • Expected to be a challenging process

4. What is self assessment? • Key performance areas: • board structure • organisational culture • effective stakeholder engagement • scrutiny of budgets • scrutiny of performance • risk management • operational policies and procedures • learning and development • Informed and reliable conclusions • Underpinned by strong evidence base

5. Self assessment: guiding principles • Not prescriptive – provides overall frame that creates wide-ranging challenge, strategic in focus to support innovation and local circumstance • Approach and evidence base to be developed locally – assessable and accessible • Methods of self assessment and reporting that best provide accurate evaluation of current performance and improvement priorities

6. Audit Compliance against a standard Often done by an external body or auditor Focus is on doing things right and corrective action Tends to be historical Auditor owns evaluation and feedback report Objective is neutral regarding motivation Self assessment Positioning against a framework Best done by yourself, perhaps facilitated by a specialist Focus on strengths and areas for improvements Both historical and forward looking Board owns the process Aim is to be motivating for those involved

7. Core principles for effective self assessment • Active board engagement and ownership • Engage with customers, staff, key external partners and stakeholders • Ensure that assessments of performance are objective and based on outcomes or end results for customers • Provide evidence for your judgments

8. Core principles for effective self assessment • Assess your performance by reference to issues and services that matter most to your customers • Consider broader community-based achievements • Ensure that improvement priorities are managed effectively • Use self assessment as a live tool

9. Ensure active board engagement and ownership of the self assessment • Should be driven and owned by Boards • Board oversees, informs and influences the process • Generate Board level (constructive) challenge • What assurances does the Board seek? • Does the SA answer the fundamental questions? • The Board then takes ownership of the results and the improvement priorities • Long term evidence of good governance in practice – the board is, and stays engaged?

10. A few examples of sources of information • Strategic / corporate plan objectives • Long term business plan and annual budgets • Board appraisal outputs and outcomes • Internal and external audit reports • Performance management and monitoring data • Risk strategy and risk map • Management accounts • Benchmarking and peer review • Feedback from customers, stakeholders and partners

11. The benefits of self assessment • Identifies your organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement • Provides a fact based approach to assessing your organisation and measuring progress periodically

12. So, in summary, self assessment is… • A process of challenging the way you do things • A process of self diagnosis leading to better self awareness • Closely linked to performance management and monitoring • Integral to business planning • Everyone’s job • A culture and a way of life

13. How do we meet the challenges that lie ahead? • We need to deliver a strong message around the governance of agencies • Care & Repair Cymru has tailored the Governance Assessment Process for individual agencies in Wales • Assessment of your governance framework, benchmarked against the legal, regulatory and best practice requirements using a customised “first steps” version of the GAP • “Full specification” version for agencies that require additional elements based on their individual circumstances and ambitions

14. What is the GAP? • Nationally recognised and widely endorsed standard for governance of third sector organisations • Independent advice in carrying out a self-assessment of level of governance compliance • Evidence of compliance with highest standards of governance and benchmarking • GAP award and certificate on completion

15. The Governance Assessment Process

16. The Governance Assessment Process

17. Which codes does the GAP cover? There are over 350 questions in the diagnostic assessment which capture recommendations from the following codes: • Care and Repair Standards of Governance • The UK Corporate Governance Code • Good Governance: A Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector • National Housing Federation Excellence in Governance • National Operating Standards – Trustee and Management Committee • The Good Governance Standard for Public Services • The Healthy NHS Board – Principles for Good Governance

18. How is the GAP relevant to Care & Repair? • The GAP covers the Care and Repair good governance standards so it ensures that your organisation is meeting the C&R standards as well as comparing best practice across other sectors and codes

19. Context of the GAP • Over 100 diagnostics completed ranging from large national charities, housing associations and social enterprises to local schools, trusts and foundations • Able to produce a set of statistics which can help you identify how well your organisation is performing against current best practice • Development plan provides a realistic and prioritised action plan to achieve the highest of governance standards

20. The GAP focuses on: • The board’s resources • Does the board have the: • structures • processes, and • tools • to organise itself effectively to discharge its functions?

21. The GAP focuses on: • The competency of the board • individually and collectively • does the board have the right range of skills and experiences to set the strategic direction and uphold the values and objectives of the organisation?

22. The GAP focuses on: • Execution of board tasks, and • how the board performs • how the board …..     discharges its functions through the successful execution of its activities

23. The basic ‘first steps’ version • Meeting with Chair and Chief Officer to undertake the diagnostic assessment • Production of Governance Development Plan including a SMART improvement action plan • Liaison with Chair and Chief Officer to agree final report (including scores benchmarked against other organisations) • GAP Certificate (on successful completion)

24. The extended ‘full specification’ version • Meeting with Chair and Chief Officer to undertake diagnostic assessment • Production of Governance Development Plan including SMART improvement action plan • Agreement of final report and feedback presentation to board • Benchmarking report providing detail of selected answers against other organisations • Governance Assessment Folder with all documents, additional resources and marketing advice / brand guidelines (for use of the ‘kite mark’) • GAP Certificate and Award

25. Continuous improvement • The GAP offers a process of continuous improvement via the SMART action plan • It prioritises improvements and actions to achieve both ‘quick wins’ and imperative wins • An added option is reassessment after 2 years to track progress

26. Our contact details The GAP has been developed by Karl George of The Governance Forum For more information please contact Kate Goodall or Patricia McCabe 0121 643 4745 / 3747 kate.goodall@centralconsultancy.co.uk

27. Thank you for listeningNow it’s your turnDoes anyone have any questions?And if not, I have some challenges for you …