Getting information in an appropriate way is a major issue for most governors, and involves both information on specific issues being discussed at board or council meetings, and also contextual information about the institution which helps to shape a governor's understanding of the environment in which decisions will be implemented.
Information for decision-making and for Meetings
It is important to consider how much do governors need to know, and how does the institution get the right balance between drowning a governor in information and starving him or her? Giving too little information is obviously undesirable, but too much can lead to governors micro-managing and also runs the risk of swamping them in detail so that they do not focus on the major strategic issues.
Mechanisms used to present appropriate board papers include:
It is good practice to review regularly whether governors are getting the information that they need to do their job in the format that best suits them.
General and Background Information
Many institutions try to encourage governors to get to know the institution so that they are more informed about the culture and context in which decisions are taken. Pre-meeting briefings, presentations on current topics, and the use of intra-net sites are all ways in which this is being done. Some institutions also engage governors by giving members a portfolio or a specific part of the institution with which to link. This 'twinning' simply means that each member focuses on one aspect of the institution’s business or community, and develops a level of expertise in that so that he or she can speak on it with more authority. It is an attractive idea and can be effective, but it is also has potential problems, and engagement with a particular business area can lead to confusion between the boundary between governance and management, with the temptation for some members in specialist roles to stray too far towards management. Similarly where governors are twinned with a particular part of the institution, there is a danger that staff might seek to use their 'twin' as a spokesperson and not all governors may recognise or resist this.
The role of the clerk or secretary in providing independent advice to the governing body is another important issue, and boards rely heavily on him or her. Such a role is not without its tensions, as in HE they also tend to carry important executive responsibilities
Examples of good practice in providing information governors are contained in Chapter 5 of 'Good Practice in Six Areas of the Governance of HEIs', published by the CUC in 2004, and some of the difficulties that can arise if information is not of high quality, clear and comprehensive are illustrated in the report by Lord Woolf on the links between the LSE and Libya.