Governance Decision-Making Tool

Effectiveness and Resilience

How often should the governance structure be evaluated?

It is important for designated areas to regularly review their governance structure to ensure it continues to be representative. Other reasons why organisations might review their governance structure include changes to the size of the organisation, and changes to the law regarding organisational governance.

While such regular reviewing is desirable, there is also a balance to be struck with regard to working with established patterns of governance. That is, an organisation does not want to be changing its way of operating every year, but reviewing the structure every four years, for example, may help to achieve this balance. Again, it is a balance between ensuring continuity and stability, whilst remaining open to new ideas and means of engaging people from outside of the governance structure.

According to this feature on governance reviews, it is good practice for an organisation’s governance structure to be reviewed internally every year, and with outside assistance (for example, an external consultancy) every 3-5 years. The right time to conduct a review, however, will depend on the individual circumstances of the designated area.