SINK or SWIM Cutting Edge Seminars

It is not only important for companies to have a clear PURPOSE but the ability to achieve this PURPOSE – the companies PERFORMANCE – is as critical to its success. A well-governed company not only emphasises its EFFECTIVENESS (in achieving its goals) but also takes into account its range of RESPONSIBILITIES in doing so. Business is not only about “how much money you make”, but also more and more about “how you make you money”.

The HONEYLANE Consulting definition and model of Corporate Governance is aimed at the RESPONSIBLE EFFECTIVENESS of a company – within this model the core areas of STRATEGY (Purpose), CAPABILITY and EXECUTION (Performance), ACCOUNTABILITY and STRUCTURE (Governance) are systematically addressed.

What is Corporate Governance and why is it so important? The difficulty in defining corporate governance is that it is, firstly conceptual before it is practical. Much like a healthy relationship will be expressed in the behaviour of the people involved yet the imposition of this behaviour does not necessarily lead to a healthy relationship so to corporate governance expresses itself in and through structural issues – that in themselves will not necessarily lead to good governance when imposed on an organisation.

Herein lies the challenge of corporate governance – perhaps its greatest strength and potentially its most serious flaw.

Another characteristic of corporate governance is that in itself it means very little – no company can (or should) think that rigid and methodical implementation of corporate governance principles and structures in an organisation will ensure its success. A company first needs to be “good at what it does” – this necessitates clear and robust ownership and directorship strategies that feed the execution of effective organisational strategies leading to a profitable business model. Corporate governance can never be seen as a replacement for corporate strategy – it has less to do with WHAT a company does than with HOW a company does what it does.

This is why there are a range of corporate governance principles that can be applied broadly (and flexibly) to all companies, no-matter what they do. Cloning a successful companies corporate governance framework will not ensure success – it may make an already successful business better, but the same robust corporate governance principles applied to different companies (even in the same or similar spheres or sectors) may, and probably should, look different. It is in this difference where companies can begin to explore the hidden value of corporate governance for themselves, ensuring that they achieve their goal as effectively as possible.

With this in mind however corporate governance is essential in today’s business environment and each and every organisation needs to grapple with the challenges involved in its implementation.

Please CONTACT US for more information on our Corporate Governance Alignment and Implementation Programmes.

• Risk Assessment and Management
• Internal Governance Assessment and Workshops
• Integrating Governance and Management
• Integrated Reporting