What was our brief?
Gloucester City Homes was set up as an ALMO in December 2005. As a forward-thinking organisation, it places great emphasis on ensuring good governance arrangements are in place.
An effective Board is key to success and Gloucester City Homes brought us in to develop a robust process for Board Development Review.
What did we do?
Board Members are volunteers and it was essential to ensure the process reflected this. We met first with the full Board and then with a small Working Group to draw up a framework for the review.
We designed a short informal Questionnaire and conducted a series of “one-on-one”
interviews. Combined with our own observations of the Board in action this created a very focussed picture of the key strengths and the areas to develop further.
What were the results?
The immediate outcomes from the review were:
- a user-friendly Board Report drawing together the key findings from the Questionnaire, the interviews and the Board observation;
- a series of practical recommendations enabling Gloucester City Homes to further
enhance its Board effectiveness; and
- a Training and Development Plan providing support for Board Members in both hard and soft-skills areas.
Our report was received enthusiastically by the Board who were keen to put the practical
recommendations into effect. In addition, it provided clear and positive evidence to the Audit Commission of the great importance Gloucester City Homes places on ensuring the best possible governance arrangements were in place.
Paul Masters, Governance Manager at Gloucester City Homes says
“The Board Development Review was an important step in the development of our Board. The report gave is an excellent platform to take our governance arrangements to the next level, and ensure the board are able to drive the strategic direction of the company on behalf of it’s customers.”