#8 - Assurance!
20 Apr 24
How do you assure yourself that your team are fully compliant with mandatory and Company Governance?
Depending on your particular business context, your Company will be expected to demonstrate compliance with certain legislatory and regulatory standards.
Your Company will also expect the internal Governance to be adhered to in order that business activities are carried out in an ethically sound manner.
Additionally, are you fully aware of the technical, financial and therefore overall business risk being held?
Your role as a leader, is to assure yourself (and the wider business) through a range of checks and controls/reviews that you are compliant with Governance, and that all business risks are fully understood and being appropriately managed.
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#8 - Assurance!
What?
Over the course of your tenure as a leader, you will issue countless directions and guidance, allocate tasks and implement innovations within your team. You will also set plans in motion to achieve the aim of ensuring that your outputs are delivered to the right standard, and in a timely manner.
You will no doubt have a tracking mechanism which assesses progress on the tasks you have set. But how aware are you of the technical and financial risks associated with your area?
You will also be subject to certain legislatory and regulatory standards, set by internal Company Departments and also external bodies. These will apply to the specific business within which your Company operates.
Assurance is the process by which you monitor and gain confidence that you are compliant with those standards and that you do not fall outside of the mandated Governance. It is a series of regular checks and controls that allow you to monitor the status and performance of your Department, and to assess the overall degree of business risk currently being held.
Why?
A Company without any Governance in place will soon find that it is exposed.
The application of sound Governance lets all employees know that there is a particular way of doing business ethically within the Company that is repeatable and consistent.
With sound Governance in place, the Company is protected, employee expectations are managed, and mandatory legislatory and regulatory standards are adhered to.
It is important to realise that, aside from demonstrating legislatory and regulatory compliance, robust Governance ultimately provides a handrail to guide everyone.
It is there to support the business, ensure good practice and to make it work more efficiently and effectively.
The legislatory and regulatory compliance protects the very existence of the Company itself against litigation.
So it is important to ensure that you remain compliant.
Similarly, a full understanding and appreciation of the technical, financial and therefore overall business risks is essential to the financial health and survivability of the Company.
How?
Light touch but regular reviews are the way to check you are in Governance and compliant (monthly is good).
The type and focus of the reviews will depend on your particular line of business.
However, as a bare minimum I would always focus on the following areas by conducting two main reviews:
People Review - This focusses on your Human Resources.
- Do you have the right-size team to cover all of your commitments (too many or too few)?
- Are they all SQEP for the roles they are required to perform?
- Do you have any hard gaps (vacant positions)?
- Do you have any skills gaps? What training is required to keep personnel current and to avoid skill fade?
- Where are you exposed in terms of team resilience, are you only 'one brick thick' in certain areas requiring niche skills? What does your Succession Plan look like?
- What is the plan for known joiners and leavers?
Operations Review - Focussed on the business delivery side.
- Is your work environment safe? Is a regular inspection regime in place? Are issues being reported, addressed and closed out?
- What Governance should you have in place (Externally and Internally driven) and is it all in date and being complied with?
- Are you behind or ahead of your Project Schedule?
- What issues do you have and are they being addressed?
- Where are you with satisfying customer requirements? Are there any you cannot meet?
- Are you meeting your KPIs?
- What is the status of your Finance? Are you at risk of attracting Liquidated Damages for delivering late or below standard to your customer? Are you up to date with milestone payments? What projected costs are you aware of?
- What is the status of your Risk and Opportunity register? Can you retire any risks and release the money to margin, or has the risk materialised and you need to draw the money down? Do you need to create new risks? Are there Opportunities you can exploit to increase your profit margin?
- Is your operation sustainable? What recurring inputs do you need to keep it going?
- Do you need additional help from the wider business with any of the areas outlined above?
- The above list is not exhaustive, but it's a great place to start!
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
Assurance is a key part of exercising good leadership across your Department. It gives you the confidence that your team are aligned and delivering in accordance with the mandated external, and Company Governance.
It also enables a judgement to be made on the level of technical, financial and therefore business risk being held. This will ensure that the Company, and the people who work within it are not exposed in any way, and that you are being proactive, not reactive in dealing with issues.
Have a great week!
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