Organisations who recognise the importance of governance will also give focus to supporting the continuous improvement of their Board so that they can lead the organisation in the delivery of its objectives effectively.

It is import that the Board and its supporting strategic committees regularly evaluate their own performance, both as individuals and a collective group. Evaluations should objectively and independently assess the people, experience and skills present on a Board as well as the environment within which they operate.

An essential part of future proofing the club, its also vital that consideration is given to planning who will undertake specific strategic roles which ensures strong continuity and helps the club to remain focused on achieving their ambitions.

Read more on the topics covered in this section below and utilise the resource hub to find linked resources and additional reading for each – just search the area you want to find out more about.

Succession Planning is the process of looking beyond the current incumbent and preparing for a time when they will not fulfil that role. There are examples where roles have been held by individuals for repeated terms – either by choice or necessity – which can often be to the detriment of the club.

When Board and committee positions are performed for a limited period of time, it ensures the club enjoys the benefit of fresh opinions and new points of view on a regular basis. Planning ahead to ensure the future board/committee members are identified and recruited to undertake the key roles is essential and helps with the avoidance of gaps in delivery.

In a member’s club, this should be combined with a need to be democratic and allow the membership to vote for whoever they feel will best represent their views, so a delicate balance needs to be achieved.

To operate with a fully transparent culture, clubs should have a framework in place which encourages the Board and supporting sub-committees to evaluate their own performance, and this can also support in better performance results being achieved.

These evaluations work best where strengths are recognised and can be built upon, but also where weaknesses are identified and addressed. An evaluation of the Board or Committee’s performance should be completed annually so that success can be regularly built upon and issues dealt with in a timely manner, avoiding potential longer-term damage to the operation.

These evaluations can be undertaken internally (self-evaluation) or externally by a third-party consultant, whichever is most appropriate.

Rather than relying upon volunteers to emerge, successful clubs identify their committee members based on a set of criteria, and a Nominations Committee can be created to help identify potential candidates.

A Nominations Committee should reflect the diversity the club is trying to achieve at Board level. Having this in place does not exclude other candidates from applying but will ensure that each vacancy has at least one candidate who has been picked for their ability to contribute to the club in that specific role.

A benefit of adopting this process is that the representatives on that group ensure that every member is made aware of the volunteering opportunities that exist to serve the clubs interests. Once any vacancies have been promoted more widely, it is then best to select based on skills utilising a solid and transparent recruitment process.

Stakeholder engagement is often described as the building and maintaining of relationships. Do people in the community know what you do, why you do it and who you are for?

Effective stakeholder engagement can help golf clubs improve understanding and decision making as well as overall governance. Most golf clubs are pretty good at listening to their members, but embracing the perspectives of broad range of stakeholders can prove much more insightful and the process can enhance the reputation of the golf club.

Engaging with new stakeholders can also bring opportunities, such as funding, new revenue streams, sponsorships and visitors to the facility.

You can find a list of useful resources by visiting our dedicated Club Governance Resource Hub here.

Or, to head back to Stage 2, click here.