Do your directors really apply their training?

Regardless of where you gain your Governance education, the process is totally irrelevant, if the outcome is a box ticking exercise to say, “I have done my training,” and directors do not apply what they have learnt, when they return to the boardroom.

Some industries, like registered clubs in NSW, mandate minimum governance education for directors of club boards, my main area of engagement. Under the requirements of the Registered Clubs Act and Registered Clubs Regulations, Directors must complete their Mandatory training within 12 months of being appointed or elected to a club board. There are guidelines however that dictate how many directors on a board must be trained:

   X     Clubs with annual gaming revenue over $1 million: Every director must complete the training.

   X     Clubs with annual gaming revenue under $1 million: At least two directors must have completed the training.

From an Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorism Financing perspective, club directors are legally accountable for ensuring their registered club maintains a defensible, board-approved AML/CTF program, adequate compliance resources, and proper risk assessments. This means they need to complete the Responsible Gambling Board Oversight course as a minimum standard, which covers off their Responsible Conduct of Gaming (RCG/Advanced RCG) requirements.

This education can be achieved with the industry association ClubsNSW, or one of a few registered training organisations (RTOs) who specialise in the field, e.g. Barrington Training Services, CTA Training and others.

Non-accredited education and short courses can also be valuable in informing potential and existing directors of the responsibilities they will shoulder upon being appointed or elected to a board. Extrapreneur Services provides Pre-Nomination classes for club members and members of not for profit organisation, spelling out the responsibilities of effective board directorships, ensuring they understand the risks and rewards of actively participating in the governance and operational oversight.

OK so now you ‘know,’ what do you ‘do’?

This is the critical issue. You have done the training, but have you actually changed your behaviour? Going back to the boardroom and not changing how you apply your governance knowledge, equals a waste of time and money for the training. The education you have done should provide the guidance you need to be an ‘effective’ director for your organisation (in any industry or corporate structure). 

In my Due Diligence Masterclass, we do a deep dive on applying your knowledge effectively in all areas of Governance and operations (which directors must understand to provide oversight).

Due diligence is critical in the following areas:

   X     Strategy - strategic planning and operational delivery

   X     Finance – ensuring solvency and profitability                             

   X     Legal - ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation

   X     Human Resources – oversee the workplace and conditions therein

   X     Management – diligent oversight of operations

   X     Risk Management – ensuring the Board sets the Risk Culture and Appetite

   X     Crisis Management - ensuring that there is a plan to respond to a crisis

   X     Cybersecurity – ensuring the guardrails are in place to protect all data

Ask yourself this –

Do I regularly ask questions to either challenge, or better understand, information or reports presented to us in the Board? Do we have a Strategic Plan and if so, how often do we review it against operational delivery?

Do we as a board really understand the financials presented to us?

Have we checked that everything we do is compliant with legislation, best practice and industry standards? Do we ask the management about this when needed?

Have we ensured that all staff have formal contracts of employment, job descriptions and key performance indicators (KPIs) and that we provide a safe workplace with safe plant and equipment, safe work practices and a safe workplace from the point of view of staff welfare (no psychosocial issues).

Do we have in place all the policies and procedures required to ensure we operate according to industry best practice and have the appropriate management structure in place?

Have we established the corporate Risk Culture, through identification of our Risk Appetite, Risk Capacity and promoted the Risk Culture to all our employees? Do we regularly conduct hazard assessments and have incidents and near misses reported to the board under WH&S reporting practices?

Do we have a Crisis Management Plan in place, having done some scenario exercises predicting various crises that could impact our business? Is this plan reviewed periodically?

 In today’s highly technology-based environment, do we have in place appropriate cybersecurity policies and procedure, including appropriate service providers to ensure a secure Information Technology (IT) environment, to protect our data, privacy and intellectual property(IP)?

How many of these items are regular and recurring items on your Board meeting agenda?

Director participation

The final aspect of your director education is active participation. A good board chair will go around the table and attempt to extract input from all directors attending the meeting, There is nothing worse than a director not contributing to conversations and decisions inside the boardroom, then immediately complaining about decisions, once they are out of the boardroom. The opportunity to contribute has passed in the meeting.

The key benefit of Director education is to improve the quality of conversations, questions and decision making, with sufficiently robust, but respectful, discussions in the boardroom. Your training will give you the correct perspective to apply your oversight and the knowledge to ask better questions.

Also keep an eye out for a Due Diligence Masterclass coming to a club near you in early 2027. Book in individually or as a board to either a public masterclass or arrange an in-house session for your whole Board and Management team.

For more information, and assistance with director education, contact Ron Browne, Managing Consultant, 0414 633 423 ron@extrapreneurservices.com.au