Nominations Committees

Have you considered the strategic role that your nomination committee can play beyond the nominations process?  
 
I have previously flagged the opportunity for boards to review their induction programs ahead of director appointments or elections that may be occurring later this year.  
 
For universities, the requirement for induction comes from section 5 of the Voluntary Code of Best Practice for the Governance of Australian Public Universities. This section states ‘each governing body must make available a programme of induction and professional development for members to build the expertise of the governing body and to ensure that all members are aware of the nature of their duties and responsibilities.’  
 
One approach to ensuring your induction program achieves this purpose is to include induction and professional development into the terms of reference for your nomination committee. In most Australian universities currently, nomination committees are setup to support the adoption of systematic procedures for the nomination of new governing body members. But should that be the limit of their scope?  
 
In Chapter 10 of the book, ‘Governing Higher Education Today: International Perspectives’, Lorraine Young references ‘The Nomination Committee: Coming Out of the Shadows’ (ICSA et al., 2016) which suggested nomination committees across the UK higher education sector were beginning to be more strategic and not just meeting when a new director was needed. New areas of discussion included, amongst others, induction and continuing professional development for directors.   
 
Closer to home, the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations note that a nomination committee can be an efficient and effective mechanism to bring the transparency, focus and independent judgement needed on decisions regarding the composition of the board. Recommendation 2.1 provides that the role of the nomination committee is usually to review and make recommendations to the board in relation to … induction and continuing professional development programs for directors … .  
 
If you’ve read this far and are wondering when your nomination committee’s terms of reference were last reviewed, contact rachel@thegovernanceguide.com.au to start a discussion about the potential strategic value your nomination committee can bring.

Photo by Rodeo Project Management Software on Unsplash