Assessing Management from a Board Perspective

There is clarity within most boards of their director obligations.
The boards of most organisations see that their broad role is to:

• Interpret the organisation’s purpose based on its shareholder objectives (for for-profit corporations) or on the intent of their constitution or charter (for NFP and NGO organisations) or the Act of Parliament for government departments and entities.
• Ensure perpetuity of the organisation.
• Ensure the financial viability of the organisation.
• Ensure the development and application of robust governance systems.
• Choose the key executives of the organisation.
• Assess the performance of the organisation against its stated key performance objectives and ensure the adequacy of funds and resources to accomplish its objectives.
• Assess the performance of the organisation’s key executives.
• Ensure the use and application of a relevant and effective planning process.
• Ensure that all performance enabling elements are developed, applied, and monitored including systems, tools, processes, documentation, culture, recruitment and other people, product and service management systems.
• Ensure and enhance the organisation’s public image.
• Ensure legality and compliance.
• Ensure risk is acceptable and managed.
• Reflect and enhance its own performance.
• To offer the organisation’s executives advice and guidance as required or requested.
• Be accountable to the public, authorities, and shareholders (for for-profits) or members (for NFP and others).
• Be the organisation’s ultimate adjudicator.

The effectiveness of a board depends, in part, on the effectiveness of the organisation over which it governs.
Since organisations differ greatly across multiple dimensions, a standard governance methodology is hard to find and harder to apply.
The differing dimensions of organisations include what they do, why they do it, who owns them, where they are located, the legal system that they work within, the age of the organisation, the market, their competitors, their industry, the age of the principals and their experience, and so on.

Advisory & Mentoring Pte Ltd (A&M) provides a unique and very effective way to assess every organisation’s alignment with the board’s fundamental responsibilities for the organisation.
A&M’s unique methodology is based on two fundamental dimensions:

A&M's Methodology

1. We meet with you to identify your needs, your issues, and your objectives. This is NOT a sell-session. It’s mature people meeting to discuss whether and how one can help the other. If we can’t help you, then we tell you – we value our time and respect yours.
2. Based on the initial meeting, A&M submits a statement of its understanding of the issues or needs discussed, and its suggestion of how A&M can help (if that is the case) in satisfying your needs. This includes a preliminary outline of activities, timeframes, resources, deliverables, and costs.
3. The foundation of our methodology is to assess your organisation across both Dimension 1 and Dimension 2 and provide recommendations to improve both in a way that will help the board deliver their core responsibilities.
4. We meet again to finalise the path forward. We agree communication protocols, your reporting expectations, and anything else that’s relevant to what we are about to do.
5. We do what we have agreed with you to do.
6. We meet with you as frequently as you wish to advise you what we’re progressively finding or doing and what next steps/actions are.
7. When we’re finished, we either present our findings and recommendations or write a report – or both – that’s at your discretion.
8. You then specify if and how you would like us to monitor, evaluate or follow-up according to the nature of the work we were doing.

Management Assessment

Companies of all sizes have identified a growth opportunity in assessing the management Team.

At Advisory & Mentoring

It is the highest level of professional mentoring available in the counselling market and is an amalgam of business coach, life coach, executive coach and oracle mentor.
The service provides the client with confidential advice and technical support in a manner that is ‘invisible’ to the client’s organization and its staff, but with the approval of the board of that organization.
The service can be summarised by the following characteristics:

• The relationship between the mentor and the client is strictly confidential;
• The mentor and client sessions are organized at a time, frequency and place to suit both parties;
• The mentoring sessions can be conducted in-person, by phone, or over a technical platform, such as Skype or similar;
• The mentor is always contactable by the client for advice or discussion – it’s not a time-based relationship;
• The mentor helps the client work through specific corporate or personal issues and challenges in a ‘back-room’, strategic and confidential manner;
  Any suggestions or recommendations that come from a mentor/client relationship are always seen as the client’s own work;
• The mentor can introduce a subject expert as required by the client. Major projects or assignments that come from the initial discussion between the subject expert and the client are entirely between the client and the subject expert;
• Mentors can organize and facilitate intensive confidential workshops to target, solve and brainstorm specific client issues. Subject experts may be invited to participate in or lead intensives for a fee;
• Mentors provide one-on-one confidential mentoring of clients for an annual retainer-based fee paid monthly.