Governance reform – national sporting organisation – best practice framework

The Client

A national sporting body responsible for administration of a major Olympic sport seeking to significantly enhance its corporate governance practices and those of its federated bodies across the sport.

The Brief

The need for enhanced corporate governance across national sporting organisations and their federated bodies had become an increasing focus of Government seeking greater accountability, transparency and demonstrated performance outcomes from the allocation of public funds. Sports Governance Principles were issued by the Commonwealth Government funding agency to support this objective.

The Board and executive were committed to embracing the Sports Government Principles and wanted to achieve a comprehensive response ensuring governance processes reflected best practice across the sector.

The terms of reference for the project included the development of a corporate governance framework, review of the Constitution including Committee structure and charters, review of strategic planning processes, enhancement of CEO performance review and management processes, consideration of the Board’s role in driving culture and values, and development of a policy framework.

Our Response

Our consultant engaged individually with Board members and executives and conducted several workshops to explore the requirements, opportunities and key objectives, and to discuss significant issues in enhancing governance arrangements.

These workshops were critical in engaging both Board Directors and senior management, and in facilitating a shared and aligned approach to governance matters.

Beyond the Sports Governance Principles and supporting documents from government, our consultant drew on and applied relevant ASX governance principles and leading and recognised corporate governance work published within Australia and internationally. This enabled the Board in its desire to adopt best practices.

The Results

The outcomes of the project included the successful development and implementation of a Corporate Governance Framework which provided a clear structure for the organisation’s corporate governance activities. This defined a hierarchy of governance documents from the Corporations Act, Constitution and Corporate Governance Manual, and policy documents.

The Framework defined key pillars and supporting governance documents which addressed risk management, strategy, policy development, authorities and delegations, Board and Committee processes, Board structure and performance, CEO performance, culture and values, and accountability and compliance.

The process of undertaking the project fostered a greater understanding of the principles of good corporate governance and how these may be applied across the Board and executive. It enabled the organisation to comprehensively respond to the requirements of the Commonwealth Government’s Sports Governance Principles.

Feedback from Directors and the executive was overwhelmingly that the workshops and the information gathered and presented by the consultant significantly enhanced their knowledge of corporate governance including the role of the Board, the delineation of responsibilities between Board and Management, the significance of the Board in driving culture and values and ensuring appropriate accountability regarding mechanisms associated with the work of the CEO and executive.

Our consultant was further engaged to work with the wider federated bodies across the sport nationally to assist in Constitutional change and implementation of key aspects of the Corporate Governance Framework within these organisations.