Advanced Dynamics

Improving Governance

Why are we different?

Advanced Dynamics works with boards and other governing bodies to strengthen the social process that underpins the quality of their work.  Without conscious social process design, boards run a significant risk of, at best, being less effective or, at worst, failing in their role as custodians of the performance of the organisation or system they are charged with  governing.

We understand the complexities of board dynamics, where a diverse group of people bring a range of skills, experience, and perspectives to the table. We understand the complexities of the relationship between the board and the executive team, and the importance of clarifying the roles and accountabilities of each. And we understand the significant impact that a dysfunctional governing body can have on an organisation and the individuals within it, and therefore the critical importance of getting right not only the technical ability of the board to perform its role, but also its ability to work as a cohesive, enquiring, purposeful and functional group of people.

What problems do we solve?

Corporate Governance has received considerable bad press over the past few years.  The collapse of a number of major institutions such as Enron and Tyco in the US, and HIH, One Tel, Ansett, and more recently ABC Learning in Australia, caused both regulators and the public to point fingers at the governing bodies that were supposed to be the custodians of these organisations, setting their strategic direction and monitoring their performance.  Instead, their decision-making processes were found to be significantly lacking, warning signs were not heeded, and supposed controls, intended to avert organisational disaster, were avoided or ignored.

An inevitable result of these major collapses has been a tightening of regulation and of the legislation relating to both boards as a whole, and the individual directors that constitute them, both in Australia and elsewhere.  This focus on the regulatory aspects of governance has no doubt been necessary, but has ignored an underlying and essential ingredient of effective boards: the social process of governance.

“Social process” recognises that a board is made up of individuals - social beings, the quality of whose interactions actually determine the performance of the board.  Social process refers to the dynamics of the board, the way in which board meetings are run, the way in which the chair leads and facilitates discussions, the process through which decisions are made and the way in which individual directors participate as members of the board. Improvement of the social process of governance requires evaluation – reflection on how well the board is performing, both on a short term basis (how well did an individual board meeting go?) and in the longer term (how well are we performing our governance function over time?).  Appropriate legislation and a robust regulatory environment create the legal conditions for effective governance, but a focus on social process is necessary to assure performance.

We work with both new boards in the process of formation, and existing boards, to help them build the foundations for appropriate processes, often through a charter that codifies the practice of how the governing body will address the critical issues that risk compromising its ability to operate successfully.  We also work with boards to design and implement effective evaluation processes that take into account both the technical and social aspects of their work, and to work through the results of these evaluations to address any emerging performance issues.

Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre achieves exceptional board performance using Advanced Dynamics’ integrated approach (PDF)