Good Governance Workshop — Report
Posted on December 2, 2015
Filed under Resources, Sydney Diocese
The Anglican Church League takes a special interest in finding gospel-minded Christians to serve on the many councils and committees of the Sydney Diocese, and in assisting those elected to serve well.
To support our brothers and sisters, the ACL organised and ran a Good Governance Workshop on Thursday evening, 26th November.
The evening was open to all, and its purpose was to help members of boards and councils – especially newly elected members – to think about how the gospel shapes the way we practice governance. It was well attended, with more than forty people coming to increase their skills in governance and to share their wisdom and insights with others.
The basic concepts of evangelical governance established on the evening could easily serve as the basis for future workshops of this sort exploring these matters further for boards and committees, and even parish councils.
For more detail and our summaries of insights from each of our excellent speakers, read on!
Peter Mayrick leading the Bible study on Romans 13.
The evening was chaired by ACL Vice President Mr Peter Mayrick. Mr Mayrick is a senior consultant for Moore College’s Centre for Ministry Development and Effective Ministry.
Dr. Robert Mackay, Archbishop Glenn Davies, Dr. Robert Tong, and Canon Bruce Morrison each gave a presentation –
Dr Robert Mackay, Chairman of The King’s School Council: School Governance.
Peter Mayrick interviews Dr Robert Mackay of The King’s School Council.
Dr Mackay was interviewed by Mr Mayrick about his considerable experience in serving on school boards.
Good governance involves mapping out a clear direction for the organisation as well as the means to achieve the organisation’s goals. Firstly, the board, especially the chair, must define the purpose of the organisation. Following from this, the board must develop a strategy in line with the purpose of the organisation. This must be well regulated, which involves good risk analysis. One must ask questions like: ‘What kind of risks are involved?’ and ‘How are these risks to be managed?’
As Christians, good governance must involve deep integrity. We must ensure we submit to the appropriate authorities and obey and honour the laws of land. As well as this, we must strive to deliver the service at the highest possible standard. As we do this, board members must be assured that we can deliver the service. We must always keep up with compliance regulations, which are ever changing. This is an ongoing challenge. Integrity also involves transparency (an issue also addressed later by Archbishop Davies). Integrity involves wise financial Stewardship. This requires good regulation of finances and external accountability such as periodic auditing.
Good boards need good chairs who facilitate conversation within a framework. As part of this it is important to understand the chair’s responsibilities. This involves understanding the purpose of the organisation and whether the chair’s skills match this organisation. A good chair would also seek to incorporate a wide range of skills from others into their board. Boards need a good mix of skills such as financial, branding and brand position, risk, commercial, legal. Experience in industry, corporate memory and mix of gender is also important.
Board members need to be properly inducted. This includes giving people the latest audited finances and a management update.
Good governance involves good communication. When starting out on a board, it is best not to dive in but spend time get a ‘feel’ for the board, working out relational dynamics, and waiting to ask well-thought-through insightful questions, which will increase your credibility. It is important always to be well informed, to get good information from those who manage the organisation, and to ask where information is not sufficient.
When it comes to important issues, board members should be able to reason and rehearse their positions to themselves before they bring it before others. A reasoned and factual argument will carry the day. On big decisions, it is important for the chair to ask all members individually what they think, so some don’t dominate. If someone has an interest or skill that is relevant to the question, it is good to ask them directly. When the board has reached a resolution, the chair should ask the secretary read it out, so that all might affirm it before it’s written up. It is also helpful to review the minutes and check semantics and flow – and invite members to affirm if there is confusion.
Archbishop Glenn Davies: Evangelical Governance: What difference does the gospel make to governance?
Archbishop Glenn Davies speaks on ‘Evangelical Governance: What difference does the gospel make?’
Archbishop Glenn Davies considered the way a gospel-based understanding of human life works out in practice in the way board members approach their task and the other people on their boards.
He began by stressing the importance of understanding the effects of sin on every decision we make (part of the “noetic effects” of sin). We should seek to be aware of how our decisions may be distorted by sin. We should continue to seek God’s help in revealing to us our sin, to return in humility to God, meditate on his word and take every thought captive to God. Sin does not only affect non-Christians but Christians as well, since we still live in the flesh in a fallen world.
The kingdom is the priority of all we do in our responsibilities in governance. We need to think from the perspective of furthering the kingdom and how each governing body can contribute to this. It is also important to challenge the enculturated practices that inhibit gospel growth. Synod representatives should see themselves acting in the interest of the kingdom as their priority, rather than acting primarily in the interests of their parish.
It is also important to remember the spiritual element in our governance. That is why our meetings should always begin with bible reading a prayer. Satan seeks to undermine our gospel efforts by how we relate ungraciously to one another—this is a spiritual battle. To counter this, the gospel charges us to pass on the gift of forgiveness to others.
Dr Robert Tong: Responsible evangelical governance of diocesan boards.
Dr. Robert Tong helped us to understand the legal obligations of Christian governing boards. Schools and organisations in the Diocese of Sydney are usually incorporated. Many parts of the Corporations Act 2001 will apply to organisations incorporated under the Anglican Church of Australia (Bodies Corporate) Act 1938. Thus, the Corporations Act provisions, which apply duties to company directors, are applicable to church corporation board members. Board members, in other words, are directors. This means: responsibilities, liabilities and obligations.
We must always consider how the gospel is informing our governance. Board members should ask whether their constitution has a gospel imperative. When we read the constitutional ordinance, does it have a clause or sub-clause that involves the gospel propagation like most school ordinances? If it does not, it should become a priority to insert one!
There is a significant difference between a parish council and a board. A parish council has a more advisory role to the minister (although the wardens have some responsibility, especially with respect to finances). On a board, however, the whole board is responsible for the conduct of the entire enterprise.
Internal controls within the organisation, therefore, are very important.
There are processes that will deal with people’s financial infidelity. Boards should be firm; they should talk to the auditor and quiz the auditor (if possible, without management present). For example, when going through the records, did the auditor find that the management was able to provide information quickly, or were they evasive? It is also important to challenge budget assumptions at the level of priorities. By the time you get to the draft budget it’s too late – need to manage the budget at 5-10 year year strategy level.
Canon Bruce Morrison: Responsible evangelical governance of school boards.
Canon Bruce Morrison, Rector of St. John’s Parramatta, applied the ideas of evangelical governance to the special nature of school boards.
Schools present an astonishing opportunity for kingdom growth. As such, in an environment of aggressive atheistic secularism, the board must be clear about the identity and purpose of the school. The gospel provides both of these, and sits very comfortably with genuine education and academic performance.
Canon Morrison drew the basic distinction between governance and management and reiterated the peril of boards meddling in management and suggested ways of avoiding this. Indeed, all the speakers addressed this important distinction.
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In the light of positive feedback from the evening, the ACL is considering further related events, e.g. for Parish Councils.
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