On Tuesday 24th June, Convene hosted our monthly GRC webinar for the Housing sector, with this session looking at Board Assurance: Evaluation and Skills. We were joined by Arturo Dell and Fi Mercer to discuss all things Board assurance, and give insight into this topic with a social housing perspective.
Gemma Walford began with a reflection on the Housing Governance conference the week before, and the complexities of the Housing governance landscape.
Arturo Dell then spoke about the aims of the session, and how Convene wants to help innovate in the space of Board assurance, by providing additional data and intelligence for Board evaluations. He also explained why Convene started our GRC Network, and the opportunity it brings to share insights and collaborate in the Housing sector.
Fi Mercer came in to give a demonstration of Convene Assure, and share a program overview of the Board governance assurance review and development.
Firstly, she discussed what she’s learnt over the last 15 years of being in Board governance review and development, and the global issues that are affecting governance. She talked about the difference between compliance governance and contemporary governance, and the need for stakeholders and the Board itself to have assurance on both of these kinds of governance. She also spoke about how data can be used to assure stakeholders and the Board.
Then, Fi discussed what Convene Assure is for the Housing sector. Convene Assure specialises in Contemporary Governance Review & Development programs, tailored to meet the UK Housing Governance and regulatory obligations. Our platform supports Boards, Directors, Executives and Subcommittees in achieving efficient, compliant modern governance.
She talked about the Boardroom Plus Program, an internally-led annual Governance Assurance Review & Development program that has been designed specifically for Housing. You can read about our Case Study with Community Housing Group here.
The Boardroom Plus program includes the following foundation products for annual Governance Review and Development:
1. Board Governance Review (Assurance)
2. Non-Subjective Director Skills Matrix
Boardroom Plus provides year-on-year trend analysis, benchmarking and reporting for assurance of regulatory compliance and contemporary governance for all key stakeholders.
Fi then went through a map of the Housing-specific Board governance assurance review, and the different questions it asks and the sections it features. She then talked about the outputs of the assurance review, and how Housing associations can gain a clear understanding of their Board’s assurance and highlight their overall Board effectiveness.
She stated that the whole-of-Board assessment structure provides a data-driven approach to corporate, contemporary and sector-specific governance responsibilities.
From the director skills matrix, Fi pointed out how it can offer a clear understanding of each Board member’s capabilities, leadership potential and areas for development. As well as this, the tailored Director Development Plans ensure targeted skill-building, aligning both individual growth with the organisation’s governance needs.
She also spoke about Convene Assure’s other additional features and resources, including the Board Succession and Director Recruitment tools, Development Recommendations, Resources Library, Professional Development Webinars, and Facilitation Plus.
She ended her talk exploring the benefits of Convene Assure and its governance assurance review program, including strategic alignment, assurance for sector-specific compliance and contemporary governance, and one place for all governance requirements.
After this, Arturo and Fi participated in a Q&A, where Arturo asked about the process of adapting Convene Assure to the Housing sector. There was also a question about whether Housing associations who had already done their Board reviews and skills matrix would need to do it again to use Convene Assure.
We’d like to thank everyone who came to the webinar and who participated in our discussion of Board assurance, and we hope to see you at the next one! If you’d like to learn more about Convene Assure, you can book a demo here.
