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Published by Hugh Laird on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 11:12 am

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Credit Crunch: Are you reviewing exposure to risk ?

Here we are again! It is being said that we are all the victims of a lack of governance in the banking sector.

Are there lessons here for us to learn in the housing and public sector and how do we ensure we do not cause further problems  in 2009? It’s time to take stock, to review and renew.

Take stock

The toughest question we think any board should ask itself is ‘are we up to the task?’. The vision should probably stay the same, but the mission may need to change its focus of the core business and the work planning. Do your board members understand what they have to do and do they have the hard business skills that successful businesses need to survive?

Review

Risk analysis seems to be the recurrent issue in business failure and this is the time to really ensure the board understands and controls the risk processes. It is time to review your governance for effectiveness – is it strategic? Is it adding value? Is it that fabulous ‘sounding board’ that management teams value so much?  Is it a part of the solution? Or a part of the problem?

Renew

It’s time to renew attitudes, skills levels, processes that do not work and people that do not contribute (Note I have said renew, not necessarily remove!).

For more information go to www.boardagency.org.uk

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