If you are serious about a career in governance, you should create opportunities where you can and make the most of every opportunity that comes your way.
Good governance is crucial to the future direction of Aotearoa New Zealand. Diversity in membership supports boards to be agile, relevant, connected, and better equipped to make the right decisions with longer lasting benefits for their communities.
Pursuing a governance position and joining a board can be both rewarding and challenging.
It is rewarding making a difference and benefitting a community. You can develop your career, skills, and knowledge by being responsible for strategic leadership, budgeting and finance, and decision-making. You can also work with a range of people who bring different perspectives and build up your professional and personal networks.
It can also be challenging and a big commitment, as board members need to juggle their time, workload, and other responsibilities. You are responsible for overseeing an organisation and must be comfortable with that level of responsibility and what comes along with it if anything goes wrong. Boards can also be places of disagreements and opposing views, so you will need to work through compromises and negotiations to get the best outcome and work together as a team.
If you are interested in moving into a governance role or preparing to take up a board position, here are some things to consider:
- Think about the type of board you want to be involved in and do some background research into some boards to understand what might be involved.
- Find out where the board roles you are interested in are advertised, as they can be listed in a range of places such as the organisation’s website, job seeker websites, social media, print media, and word of mouth – as well as through appointment and nominations services.
- Find out what the appointment process might look like through tools and guidance like our Journey to Appointment tool.
- Keep your governance CV up to date and ensure it clearly summarises your skills, experience, and achievements with specific emphasis on your governance or senior management skills.
- Apply for governance development training courses, including courses targeted specifically to women. You can find some available courses in the Leadership Learning Hub.
- Address any gaps in your skills and experience so you will be ready to serve on a board. You may want to take on a project, secondment, or new role that will provide new learning opportunities.
- Join networks and groups within your field or your demographic (i.e., women in business networks), and network at events and conferences to meet influential people and raise your profile.
- Seek out a mentor, coach, or a sponsor who could help identify your skills, guide your development, and create new connections for you.
- Think about joining our Nominations Service database.
Watch these two videos and hear from four experienced governance professionals, Caren Rangi, Dr Robbie Francis Watene, Jade Taylor-Tang, and Nicole Anderson, to hear about their experience in the governance space and get some advice on how to get started.