The Board as a Team - Characteristics and Effectiveness [Online]

13 May 2021

11:00–12:30

Online

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Please email governance@ipa.ie for further assistance

The importance of having an effective and well-functioning board in leading an organisation and setting the tone is underlined in all governance codes, both within the code principles and in specific obligations. For this reason, all codes point to the need for the board or governing body to regularly review its effectiveness and to provide members with an opportunity to reflect on performance and to consider areas of strength and areas in need of improvement.

This Forum event will focus on Board effectiveness (whilst also relevant to the Management Board/Senior Team), and particularly with a focus on team dynamics and characteristics of effective Boards. Boards are ultimately a collection of individuals, and how those individuals work together is critical to having and sustaining a high performing culture. With the help of experienced practitioners and specialists who have worked extensively with Boards and senior teams, the event will consider key questions such as:

How to get the best out of a Board as a collection of individuals?
How important are the relationships within the Board and with the Executive?
How to deal with conflict amongst members?
What is the ideal ‘tone’ in the Board room?
How do we get the Board to focus on the right things in the right way?
What are the key questions to ask in an effectiveness review and how to handle the feedback?

Speakers

Josephine Feehily

Josephine is a distinguished former civil servant and is currently Chairperson of the Pensions Commission established under the Programme for Government, and a Board member of Age and Opportunity. She was Chairperson of the first Policing Authority from 2015-2019.

She was Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners from 2008-2015 and previously held a wide range of positions in the then Department of Social Welfare, the Pensions Board and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. During her Revenue career, Josephine was Chair of the World Customs Organisation for three years, and Chair of the OECD Forum for Tax Administration – a forum of leaders of advanced Tax Authorities.

She was an independent member of the Labour Relations Commission from 2000 to 2006 and contributed to many civil service reform initiatives during her career. In recognition of her public service career, Josephine was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Limerick in 2016 and a distinguished fellowship by Griffith College in 2019.

Angelo McNeive

Angelo is a business psychologist, advisor and facilitator with over twenty year’s experience supporting clients across the state and public sector, with a particular focus on building and sustaining high performing teams. His work also includes developing critical capabilities in change and innovation within governance and leadership teams.

He has also been nominated to various non-executive roles and he is an independent member of the FAI Governance Oversight Group.

Dr Tom Ward

Tom is a Senior Governance Specialist in the IPA Governance Team, and re-joined the Institute in May 2017 having previously been a member of staff between 2006 and 2011. He co-manages the Governance Forum with Aidan Horan and works on a range of governance assignments for clients, including board effectiveness reviews and governance reviews, strategy development, and delivering training and workshop sessions on governance matters for boards and senior teams. He has worked with a range of organisations, including government departments, state agencies, local authorities, higher education institutions, and sport, community and charitable organisations.

Prior to re-joining the IPA in 2017, Tom was a Senior Manager and Consultant at Crowe, managing and delivering a range of assignments in the areas of governance, organisational design, and strategy. Prior to this, he held senior strategy and governance roles at the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Tom started his career as a Parliamentary Assistant in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Tom is currently a non-executive member of the Audit & Risk Committee of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, and was previously a non-executive Director and Vice-Chair of Badminton Ireland (2017-2022), the national governing body for the sport.