A project management maturity model is a method of evaluating the current level of process expertise within a company. It can also be useful in setting goals and building an action healthyboardroom.com plan to make improvements.
Most boards begin at the lower end of the maturity spectrum of board management. They know their responsibilities and the risks involved, but are hesitant to invest time in governance because they believe that it is distracting them from their main job of running the company. It is essential to educate these boards that governing is a distinct job that requires its own set of in professional development assessment and evaluation as well as training. It is also a risky endeavor that requires imagination, determination and ability to take risks against an interconnected and messy external world of physical and economic changes, demographic trends and social and cultural changes.
The next step for the Board is to take the conscious decision to make the decision to move up the management maturity scale toward ‘The Learning Board’. This means moving away from the traditional emphasis on Accountability and Management Supervision, and towards a emphasis on Strategic Thinking and Policy Formulation. It is a major change in the way that the board functions and usually requires some external support to put the new approach in place. It also involves establishing the procedure for regularly publishing data on the collective knowledge of the board and its emotional state. It is also an opportunity for the Chairman, assisted by the Company Secretary should lead the change in the balance of a board’s schedule away from hard business performance and towards a more focused agenda that focuses on the company’s unique external challenges.