What is Good Governance?
All public and not-for-profit organizations have varying degrees of these nine characteristics, depending on the complexity and sophistication of the organization.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability is one of the essential practices of good governance. It entails the responsible discharge of duties by the Council or Board of Directors to ensure that the decision-making process minimizes the negative effect on individuals, groups, stakeholders, employees, or the general public. Practicing accountability increases public confidence and helps organizations manage risks.
CONSENSUS ORIENTATION
For a corporation to practice good governance, there must be a consensus among the members. The boardroom is mainly used for this purpose, and in-depth debates are essential, as it allows for diversity of the organization's thoughts and actions.
TRANSPARENCY
Transparency is a principle built on the free flow of resources and information. Access to information and important issues must be available to all members, stakeholders, or the public (where applicable) at the right time. Moreover, the necessary information is also provided in enough quantity to understand and monitor it.
RESPONSIVENESS
Organizations that practice good governance always adopt better communication practices between directors, stakeholders, employees, or the members/general public. This is done in due time to allow for honest answers to the organization's direction.
PARTICIPATION
The stakeholders/members and/or public communicate effectively to achieve the organization's goals.
EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY
It is equally essential that the organization adopts measures that encourage increased efficiency in all departments. This may include introducing modern and advanced technology to increase the output of the organization's activities.
EQUITY
Each director should have the free will to express his or her opinions, philosophies, and experiences. No one should feel left out or that their views are less important.
RULE OF LAW
The board should be fair and transparent in its decision-making process.
STRATEGIC VISION
Corporations should have a board of directors that employs strategic thinking. Adopting a clearly defined strategic vision leads to the development of a coordinated and systematic plan to achieve the company's goals.
What is Sustainability?
Meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
While Governance has a complex set of interwoven principles, it is predominantly transactional. There is a set of pathways to be developed to work towards the nine characteristics of good governance.
The opposite may be true for Sustainability. While it can be distilled into a much simpler definition, the path is less clearly defined. Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. This applies to our group, organization, society, company or the environment.
With financial and social factors at play, the definition may be simple but achieving it can be complicated. The "Human Factor" is what makes sustainability challenging to achieve.