Governance Challenges & Opportunities

Board Intelligence, in partnership with Leathwaite and Addleshaw Goddard, conducted a survey for 2020/2021. It’s been an interesting year and looking back at this document provides key insights into what to expect for 2022.

2021 might be over, but the challenges last year brought are very much still with us. From reduced headcount and budgets through to increased public expectations, leading in the aftermath will demand a lot from decision-makers. We asked board members and governance professionals what they view as most critical in 2021, how confident they are that they’ll reach their goals, and what’s keeping them awake at night.

Governance professionals rank stakeholder governance alongside annual reporting and board information as the most critical areas of improvement in 2021. Yet, these are the improvement objectives they feel least confident they can achieve.

Combine this with growing external pressure from regulators, investors, and the public to get these things right, alongside budget and headcount reductions, all amidst uncertainty in the aftermath of Covid-19 and Brexit, and you have the perfect storm. How can governance professionals deliver on these critical improvement areas?

The new year will require governance professionals to work smarter and with more transparency than ever before to demonstrate the change needed.