A core topic
Governance and women is a topic on which we try to keep current.
It is very close to our heart and there are many reasons for that.
One is that, at Professionelle, we want to celebrate professional
women and their contributions. Also, there is now ample research
that women make a significant and measurable positive contribution
to the financial performance of Boards. Last but not least, there's
the fact that Boards, especially listed company Boards, remain the
last bastion of the 'boys club' and a key area where New Zealand is
sadly lacking in women's participation.
These reasons explain why you will find many articles on
Professionelle which address the women and governance topic.
Opening doors
Many Professionelle members and professional women in general
express an interest in finding out more about what directorships
are and how one gains access to becoming a director - not things
you learn about in your traditional career evening! Without
exception all are exasperated by how Boards are so heavily
dominated by middle aged men. From the outside, it seems as
impossible to infiltrate as a medieval castle.
As it turns out, the 'old boys' club nature of New Zealand
directorship is as hard for younger men who don't have the
traditional background for directorships to infiltrate as it is for
women. Or so Vicky Taylor and Simon Telfer found out when they got
talking on a flight after they accidentally switched seats!
Recognising each other from their University years, they started
the old 'what have you been up to' conversation
It turned out that Vicky, who with her husband owns and manages
'Smart Foods' as well as being a director of MOTAT, and Simon, who
is an independent Director and business adviser, discovered that
they were both passionate about governance and both felt frustrated
at the lack of young directors in existing governance networks.
Like good entrepreneurs they thought to themselves, 'what can we do
about it'? Their answer: to start a low-key, Linked In-based
network for young directors called Springboard.
A new Board generation
SpringBoard's key focus is unashamedly about increasing age
diversity around the Board table. It particularly targets directors
for small and medium sized businesses. A key attraction for members
is to meet people who are faced with similar challenges so they can
share strategies and stories between them.
The idea of getting liked minded people together to share
strategies is exactly what Professionelle is about for professional
working women. Therefore, we felt Professionelle members should
find out about this not-for-profit organisation. We also intend to
keep you updated about various initiatives aimed at demystifying
directorships, what they are, what makes a good Director and how
one goes about it as a career path. We hope that our efforts will
make becoming a Director much more accessible to talent across the
board.
A Governance group for the next generation
SpringBoard was established earlier this year to encourage the
next generation of New Zealand directors and trustees and to
promote age diversity around the board table. Members are 45 years
and under and typically have previous governance experience. This
includes positions as directors, trustees, company secretaries or
administrators.
It is important to emphasise that to become a SpringBoard member
you need to have governance experience, but this includes school
Board experience, community centre experience, Plunket committee as
well as running your own company. SpringBoard's aim is to ensure
members have had some experience in governance to provide for some
common ground among members.
Since April '09 they have grown to 200 members and this number
continues to rise. SpringBoard's target is achieve 1000 members by
the end of 2010. Around 26% are women. Many members are directors
of their own SMEs while others have positions in not for
profit/social enterprise organisations. SpringBoard actively
encourages participation from Maori and welcomes involvement from
as broad a cross section of our community as possible.
SpringBoard's main goal is to accelerate the development of the
new generation of Board directors so that no Board can use the
excuse of "a lack of talent" for not having age diversity around
their table. Part of SpringBoard's plan includes the development of
a cost effective and relevant director education programme for
directors of SME's.
SpringBoard uses Linked In as its communication platform, thus
saving on costs and focusing on what is important - actual
networking! At Professionelle, we strongly encourage the use of
Linked In as a professional networking site. Professionelle also
has a Linked In group which you are all welcome to join.
SpringBoard events
Central to SpringBoard are its bi-monthly events which allow
members to build on their governance knowledge and to network with
other younger directors and trustees. They find that they have a
high conversion rate between members and attendance at events. 70
out of the 220 members showed up to their last event with Kevin
McCaffrey from Effective Governance. Kevin spoke about the 8 steps
for being an effective director, which was extremely well
received.
On 15 September David Irving will speak on 'Governance in an SME
environment'. He is the co-founder of the Icehouse and former CEO
of Watties. In November, SpringBoard are partnering with the
Deloitte Fast 50 for a panel discussion on governance in a high
growth environment.
Why Join Springboard?
If you are a younger director or trustee this is a great way
to:
- Grow your governance skills and knowledge
- Share ideas and experiences
- Promote yourself for appointment to other governance
positions.
To become a member of SpringBoard, you should:
- have experience as a director, trustee or board appointee of a
company, trust or not for profit and
- be 45 years of age or under.
SpringBoard meet every second month in central Auckland and they
use LinkedIn to communicate with their members.
More information on SpringBoard can be found at their
website.
© Professionelle Ltd 2009