“Your room may be a mess, but common areas are sacrosanct.”
When my kids were growing up, we had some firm house rules and family guideposts. We all shared the big part of the house, and we all deserved it to be tidy. We had guidance for bedtime, study time, meals. We were flexible as needed, but those kids could count on routines and practices, which gave them a sense of security and helped them develop healthy habits. It was our household governance.
Many people hear the word governance, and they cringe like it’s a dirty word.
Why?
Because companies use that word when they feel their staff are not trustworthy and add things like keystroke logging to monitor every click employees make. Or they will stick their heels in and throw their hands up in the air as though a policy cannot be bent in exceptional circumstances, showing their lack of empathy. These things are command and control, but they are not the intention of good governance.
The corporate organization must meet regulatory compliance, security compliance, labor standards, and influence forms of behavior intended for the company to be fair, equitable, safe, and risk-free. Good governance supports innovation, applies constraints where fiduciary or risk areas require, protects the corporate investment, and protects its employees.
Governance should be an ongoing influencing process to shape decisions, share those with the staff, and ensure the company offers a great workplace environment. The policies, procedures, compliance, and management of the complexities of today’s business environment lead and guide the whole complex, adaptive system.
Here is what governance is not:
- Innovation killer
- Motivation crusher
- Trust destroyer
- An under-the-thumber control freak process
- Bums in seats performance management process
Those are examples of poor leadership and outdated management styles. Unfortunately, inflexible leaders like to say “It’s just policy” when really, often it’s not.
We need governance, just like families do, to provide security, safety, and healthy business habits. Most companies are ready for a governance overhaul after the #MeToo movement, BLM movement, and the COVID 19 pandemic because workplaces and the people within them are ever-evolving, as are the external risks posed by a highly connected world.
Time to review, refresh, reinvent the workplace, but let’s not forget the value of good governance to support it.
