blogCaro Kay
There’s plenty of Boards who need your help
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10 May 2010
With all the talk about wanting more women on boards it’s great to see some major initiatives coming through such as the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AIDC) recent announcement of a 12 month mentorship program for 63 women.
I am sure AIDC were inundated with fabulous applicants. So if you didn’t quite make it or you weren’t sure that aspiring to an ASX 200 company wasn’t quite for you - what other options are there?
I can highly recommend getting involved in a Not-For-Profit Board as a way of making a start and to gain experience in governance, strategic planning, ROI and fiscal responsibility. For the pas year I have been involved with a WA not-for-profit community legal centre called: Case For Refugees and have thoroughly enjoyed working with other Board members who have an amazing range of experience and diversity of skills that make our monthly meetings a vigorous event. It is definitely a two-way street – I hope I bring to the Board a range of expertise from the business, communication and IT areas that other Board members don’t have – we draw strength from each other and I too learn more from working with people that ordinarily I may not meet in my own business. It goes without saying that contributing to our community in the NFP sector is also rewarding by itself.
In addition to the not-for-profit sectot you can also look at the Government sector. If you go to www.wa.gov.au - there is a list of some 472 boards, committees, trusts etc who range in domains from architects, agriculture ports, industry and marine parks to name a few.
Diane Smith-Gander – recently appointed to Wesfarmers Board had some great words of wisdom at a luncheon at the Hyatt today – she doesn’t look for excuses or get bogged down with barriers she simply “gets on with it” – if you are thinking you would like to get some Board experience then make it happen for yourself. There are so many people who can benefit from working with you NOW.
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