Wednesday 30 January 2013

BOARD NEVER BORING

I mentioned to one of my guests at last nights Stoke City v Wigan match ( a cracking game, finished 2-2 with the visitors playing really well in 2nd half, after Stoke dominated the 1st half) that we'd had a Hanley Board meeting earlier in the day, and how much I'd enjoyed it. My guest seemed surprised that I didn't regard the meeting as a functional chore, but I emphasised the spectrum of topics under discussion and the energetic contributions from all 7 Directors around the table. I'm occasionally asked by Society members at our Customer Forums, what exactly do you talk about at Board meetings? so reflecting on yesterdays Board meeting, which was a fairly typical one, I recall diverse and important topics such as;
---- a review of our Key Performance Indicators to assess how we are performing against financial budgets in the first 4 months of our financial year 2012/2013.
---- consideration of the progress made on actions we agreed at our annual strategy day last May.
---- a discussion on how we are contending with current market conditions and key risks in our core markets.
---- a formal review of the Hanley's internal auditors.
---- a discussion on Board succession and recruitment plans.
---- an annual review of our policy on Equality and an annual report from our Money Laundering Officer
---- a discussion on the emerging "conduct risk" agenda as the FCA and PRA replace the FSA.
So quite a pot-pourri of subjects for us to do justice to , all embellished by the  vitality of Board members, keen to see the society continue to  thrive. .....and yes I really enjoyed it!  Crucially our Board meetings are challenging and honest. No hidden personal  agendas. No silo mentality. We also talked about contemporary standards of governance and the logic of inviting an external review by an expert on Board effectiveness.So no sign of complacency. Maybe that's another reason why I enjoy our  Board meetings so much.