Governance and Board Management Skills for EAs & PAs

Governance and Board Management for EAs & PAs

Ready to master key management techniques?

Understand what good governance looks like and how, you as the EA/PA, can assist the Board, CEO and Management to achieve it. We will examine your role and responsibilities as a Board secretary and take you through best practice examples of Board agendas, papers, and minutes. The Masterclass will use a mix of presentation, case studies, exercises, and open discussion.

Course Overview

• Understand the principles of good corporate governance
• Review common board structures and roles
• Dive into board practice & processes
• Roles and responsibilities of the board, CEO, and management
• Your role as the EA as Board Secretary
• The critical importance of confidentiality, security, and retention records
• Understand directors’ legal duties and obligations
• Explore the changing role of and expectations placed on the board

View the Outline tab for more details.

*1 1-Day Pass Ticket per person for The Office, PA & Event Planner Show, for the registered attendee or other person from same organisation, booked on any currently advertised dates for the following public training courses: Fundamentals of the Modern EA, Governance & Board Management for EAs & PAs, Leadership Development for Women – offer valid until 19 December 2025.

Course Outline

Principles of good corporate governance
• Governance – definition and why
• Governance and management
• Why good governance is so important for an organisation
• What areas in a business are affected by good governance
• What matters does the Board address?
• What every EA needs to know about governance policies

Board practice and processes
• Board practices: meetings, papers, committees, work plan, induction and reviews
• Effective Board decision-making procedures and tools
• Meeting rules
• Increasing quality of debate and engagement during meetings
• Examples of Board ineffectiveness and its impact on management
• How the CEO and the EA prepares for a Board meeting

Board structure
• Roles and responsibilities of the Board and Chair
• Role of CEO and management
• Board expectations of CEO
• CEO and Chair’s influence on Board effectiveness
• Factors which influence level of Board engagement
• Code of Conduct
• Relationships: Board and Management, Chair and CEO, EA and Chair/Board
• Changing role of and expectations placed on the Board

Understanding Directors’ legal duties and obligations
• The Companies Act
• Directors’ Duties
• Trustees
• Common law cases and NZ legislation you need to be aware of

Role of the EA as Board Secretary
• The responsibilities of the Board Secretary before, during and after Board meetings
• How to prepare for Board meetings
• What needs to happen when?
• How EAs can help facilitate the working relationships between the Executive and Board
• The EA’s role in supporting good governance in the Boardroom
• Looking for areas of improvement: What could you do differently?
• Board Secretary’s duty in recording conflicts of interest
• Handling sensitive and confidential information

Board papers
• Purpose of Board papers
• How to prepare and assemble Board papers
• Layout, content, and language
• Examples of Board papers
• Circulating the papers
• Confidentiality and security

Board Meetings: Notice, Agendas, Minutes and Policy Register
• Process to follow
• What should and should not go into agendas and minutes
• The difference between approval, verification and confirmation of the minutes
• The problems (and solutions) for minutes of narration and minutes of resolution
• Ensuring that minutes contain sufficient information to describe how Directors reasonably came to reasonable decisions
• What is required to be stored for seven years (and why) from agendas and minutes
• Modern methods for signing and securing minutes
• The usefulness of maintaining the policy register

Dauniika Maclean is a Senior Partner at IGS and leads Brightstar’s board secretary training programme. With 15 years’ experience in governance, she brings both technical depth and practical, plain-English delivery to every session.

Dauniika is a Chartered Secretary and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors (IOD), and holds the IOD Company Directors’ Certificate. Her governance mahi spans a wide range of organisations and sectors, giving her a grounded, real-world view of what makes boards function well, and where secretary practice most often goes wrong.

An enthusiastic early adopter of AI in governance and administration, Dauniika helps board secretaries understand how emerging tools can lift efficiency and accuracy without compromising rigour or compliance. She is also a sought-after public speaker, known for making governance concepts accessible without losing their substance.

Participants in Dauniika’s training leave with a clear understanding of the board secretary role, the confidence to apply it, and practical tools they can put to work immediately.