Superannuation, Sport, the ASX100, NSW Government Boards and Cooperative Research Centres are the only areas where gains of more than five per cent in the number of women on boards have been made since 2013, in new research released today.

Releasing the 2015 Boardroom Diversity Index (BDI) in Sydney, Women on Boards Directors, Ruth Medd and Claire Braund, said these sectors stood out for the greatest gains, but there were encouraging trends in all areas – except the Federal, Queensland and Western Australian Governments.

 

“It is clear to us that the message is starting to hit home in a number of important areas in the economy – in particular superannuation and ASX companies – but unfortunately not with some Governments,” Ms Braund said.

 

“It’s hard not to conclude that conservative leaning governments are bad for women.”

 

Queensland posted the biggest loss of -13.6% in the number of women serving on the boards of state owned corporations, followed by Western Australia with -3.2% and Rural Research and Development Corporations at -2.0%.

 

While the 91 significant Federal Government boards included in the research only posted a loss of -0.6%, the 2014 Australian Government Gender Balance on Boards Report (not compiled by WoB) showed the number of female board members down by two per cent on the previous year across 387 government boards.

 

“This is a worrying trend that, if it continues, could easily move to five or 10 per cent and erode the excellent work done by the previous Federal Government to move women into board roles via its Boardlinks program.”

 

The research reveals gender balance on governing bodies of universities, National Sporting Organisations, affordable housing companies, Medicare Locals, State Health Services (NSW, Vic and Qld) and State Owned Corporations in NSW, Victoria and South Australia is above 30 per cent.

 

Ms Braund said listed companies beyond the ASX100 still had some way to go, noting there were 81 companies in the ASX300 without a woman on their board.

 

She drew particular attention to five companies in the ASX100 - TPG Telecom, Ramsay Healthcare, Qube Holdings, Sirtex Medical and Domino’s Pizza Enterprises – who do not have a woman on their board.

 

“These companies are bucking the trend when it comes to other ASX100 companies who have steadily increased the number of women on boards to be in reach of a 25% target by 2016.”

 

“While this is clearly a long way short of the desired 40 per cent, it is moderate progress that we trust will continue.”

Ms Braund said Women on Boards has been focussed on the superannuation sector over the past year in terms of moving women onto boards and was pleased to see gains being made following stagnation in the 2013 index.

 

Of the 135 Superannuation Trusts measured for this year’s index, 254 of the 955 trustees were female (26.6%) – a rise of 5.7% on the 2013 index.

 

Speaking at the launch of the BDI, Anne Richards CVO CBE, Global Chief Investment Officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, congratulated the Australian Superannuation industry on the result.

 

Ms Richards, rated one of the most influential female executives working in financial services across Europe, the Middle East and Africa by the Financial News in 2014, said the global influence exerted by superannuation trusts meant it was critically important to get the right gender balance of trustees.

This media release originally appeared here on Women on Boards.

Over the coming months the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), the independent national regulator of charities, will be delivering a series of free webinars. The webinars will be held monthly and will cover a range of topics to support charities registered with the ACNC. They include an overview of the topic, practical examples and a Q&A session. The first webinar was held on 12 March and helped the 30 participants better understand the ACNC’s governance standards.

The next webinar, scheduled for 20 April 2015, will help charities manage their obligations to the ACNC via the online Charity Portal. Other topics scheduled for later in the year are likely to include:

• Managing your charity through the ACNC Charity Portal
  
• Reporting to the ACNC – the Annual Information Statement
  
• Meeting the governance standards
  
• What to do before applying to be a registered charity
  
• Obligations of newly registered charities, and
  
• The roles and responsibilities of new charity board members.
  

ACNC Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM, said that the series of webinars was part of the ACNC’s broader approach to helping charities understand their obligations, aimed at ensuring those in more remote areas could also have the opportunity to learn more and ask questions. “This is an exciting, new way for charities to interact with the ACNC,” Ms Pascoe said. “Webinars are an easy way for people across the country to communicate directly with ACNC staff and ask questions in real time. Since the establishment of the ACNC, we have been committed to providing education, guidance and advice to help registered charities comply with their obligations. The series of webinars builds on the Facebook sessions we have run in the past and complements the existing web content, factsheets, guides, podcasts, and videos produced by the ACNC to date. These webinars are free to attend, but places may be limited, so please register your interest for upcoming events as soon as possible. We are also interested to know which topics would be of most interest to charities, so we can respond to need.”

Charities can find more information, register their interest for upcoming sessions, or watch the 12 March session at acnc.gov.au/webinars.

Carbine Media Year Planners provide a simple way to enhance your media strategy by distributing its spread throughout the year. Reach is excellent, with a national distribution that targets your chosen planner segment and a high frequency of exposure through consistent planner utility. This reinforces awareness to aid retention of your brand and its benefits. Through your company's contribution, Carbine Media Year Planners also provide an excellent means of aligning your company to an industry through the support of a product that is tailored to its members. In this way it is similar to sponsorship, with the added advantage of daily exposure in a relevant environment - the work place. Most importantly - unlike journals, diaries and calendars - a planner is never closed.

Benefits to user

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Benefits to sponsor

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The unprecedented surge in New Zealand's tourism in 2015 until the end of February has been attested by Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler, who explains the record-breaking spurt in tourist arrivals as a combination of two factors--Chinese New Year and ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Bowler pointed to the strengthening of micro parameters including the lengthening of New Zealand guest nights that rose for five consecutive months till the end of November 2014. Data from Statistics NZ shows that in November 2014 compared to the previous year, Northland was the biggest gainer as a favourite destination where tourists spent more time, with a 15 percent increase in overnight stays, even as Auckland retained its allure with a 4.1 percent jump in guest nights.

Global Destination
The international outlook on New Zealand tourism is shared by Paul Carberry, who is a New Zealand expert, associated with U.K.-based New Zealand In Depth. He noted that New Zealand has been a favourite long haul destination for Brits and its pull is manifested in the overall 5 percent increase in international arrivals showing up since 2014.

Among the international tourists flocking to New Zealand, Chinese tourists are topping the charts. The numbers from China showed a 100 percent hike from 27,500 to 56,000, while the arrivals from America jumped from 5,000 to 36,700. Arrivals from Taiwan also doubled, backed by flights from Taipei to Christchurch via Sydney. Bowler said the growth is remarkable as a real-time spurt in high-value holiday visitors, whose arrivals for February, were up by 24.2 percent.

The organisation has seen a jump in tourist arrivals from key markets such as Australia (1.6 percent), the U.K. (1.8 percent) and India (36 percent). Other important markets of holidayers also showed a big spurt for the year ending February 2015, including Asian markets Singapore (9.2 percent), Japan (11.6 percent) and Korea (12.2 percent). The emerging markets, too, were exemplary in sending more tourists, with substantial year-on-year growth for Brazil (12.4 percent) and Indonesia (13.3 percent).

On Target
Tourism Industry Association New Zealand is also upbeat that international visitor spending has jumped 7.4 percent in 2014 and the number of international visitors rose 5 percent. TIA chief executive Chris Roberts is delighted that his members are experiencing "an outstanding" season. The association believes the industry is on the way to achieve the targeted tourism revenue of NZ$ 41 billion by 2025. The influx of high-spending travellers shows that New Zealand's tourism industry is on track to achieve the goal of doubling tourism revenue, he added. Roberts referred to the latest statistics and pointed to the 14 percent spurt in international tourist arrivals in February 2015, at 343,500, which is "exciting," compared to the same period in 2014.

Amazing Potential
Roberts told International Business Times exclusively that Tourism 2025 envisages the rapidly growing middle class in the Asia-Pacific region as a huge opportunity for New Zealand. Markets like China and India are showing strong growth, while Indonesia and South America are growing markets, he noted. The TIA also launched a Tourism 2025 growth framework in 2014 to meet the industry's aspirational goal to double New Zealand's total tourism revenue by 2025. Roberts said his organisation is making all out efforts to influence and propose policies in the government and regulatory settings to support that goal and identify barriers within the industry.

The TIA's strategic plan for the next three years will include projects to address workforce and infrastructure issues in order to ensure that New Zealand meets the demands of the growing visitor market. The association has recently released its "State of the Tourism Industry 2014" report. The TIA is bullish that the tourism industry is on track and is getting aligned with the goals of Tourism 2025 with its focus on volume as well as value.

For feedback or comments, contact the writer at kalyanaussie@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on International Business Times and was written by Kalyan Kumar.

The Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) is a member based organisation which exists to improve the theory, practice and use of evaluation in Australasia for people involved in evaluation including evaluation practitioners, managers, teachers and students of evaluation, and other interested individuals.

The AES Awards for Excellence in Evaluation are awarded annually and recognise exemplary evaluation practice, evaluation systems or evaluation capacity building in Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Pacifica). Awarded annually, the awards provide significant peer recognition for leading evaluators, leading evaluations and evaluation best practice. The award recipients represent best-in-class for each Award category.

Evaluations are a partnership between the commissioner, the evaluator, and the participants of the project. For evaluative projects, the Awards recognise the role of all the partners, not just the evaluators.

The Awards are announced and presented at the AES International Conference Awards Dinner each year. All nominees are invited to attend the conference or nominate someone to attend on their behalf. Recipients are published on the AES website (click here for previous recipients).

We encourage all recipients to play an active role in promoting excellence in evaluation. Award recipients are encouraged to consider ways in which their knowledge and experience may be shared with others.

Closing date: 30 June 2015

Awards nomination information

Awards categories

How to nominate 

Previous awards recipients

Here’s a question for you: is a sprinter more productive or harder working than a marathon runner? Sure, the sprinter will cover a lot of ground fast. A great sprinter will cover 100 metres in a matter of seconds. Over the first 100, 200 or 400 metres, the sprinter is far more productive than his or her long-distance running counterpart.

Over a short distance, Usain Bolt will easily win the race. But beyond that initial burst, by distance covered and average speed, it’s the marathon runner who ends up in front. A Usain Bolt might well be catching his breath after sprinting to the 600-metre mark while a distance runner like Samuel Wanjiru is already 42 kilometres down the road. In running, beyond a certain critical point, pacing becomes far more important to covering a large distance in a given span of time than simply running as fast as possible off the starting blocks.

This is all quite self-evident. And yet, in the office, it’s amazing how often working hard and working productively is equated to sprinting. The workplace equivalent of sprinting is encouraging people to cover as much ground in as short a time as possible – without looking at how it’s paced.

Many motivational and business coaching techniques encourage sprinting. So do many workplace cultures. And too many entrepreneurs push themselves to sprint to the point they burn out. The problem can quickly become overwhelming, causing a burnout. This is the workplace equivalent of Usain Bolt grabbing his side after getting a stitch from trying to sprint too far, while Samuel Wanjiru jogs past while barely breaking a sweat.

The answer lies in knowing your limits, being smarter with your time management, breaking big jobs into small, manageable tasks, taking a break when you need to and getting a proper night’s sleep. And then making sure your team does likewise. After all, there’s no gold medal for a runner who tries to sprint through a marathon!

Please see full article here.

LinkedIn Pulse Post by Heather Dauler

Influencing others. Sometimes we think of this concept negatively, through the lens of manipulation. But that’s our perception laid over what is really a neutral idea. Influence wielded correctly allows us to move projects, lead teams, or affect change. It allows us to manage up and to cut through internal bureaucracy.

Applying thoughtful, positive influence is an important tool, one that can help us gain allies and champions at work, in our community, or even at home. Laying the right foundation is important as successful influence takes time. Here are some tips to help:

• Develop a relationship. This is key. We cannot influence people without enjoying some kind of positive relationship with them. This starts with listening more than talking, sharing experiences, and engaging with others. For example, inquire about the family of your coworkers; learning the names of children and grandchildren goes a long way.
  
• Work towards trust. Trust doesn’t happen overnight, but it can start quickly. Accountability is an important aspect in building trust - do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it. Don’t overpromise and if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, communicate your oversight early and ask to discuss alternative strategies.
  
• Ensure consistency. When you behave differently each week, those around you never know what to expect. This erodes trust and stymies influencing efforts. Become known as someone who is dependable, whom others can always count on, even in small ways. Those small ways will lead to large pay-offs.
  

Lastly, know that some people are simply harder to influence than others. We all have a past history that shapes our current experiences, and building trusting relationships may simply be a lot to ask of some. All we can do is try. In the end, that act alone may prove to be a turning point.

LinkedIn Pulse Post by Jon Bisset FSAE (Chief Executive Officer at Community Broadcasting Association of Australia - CBAA and AuSAE Board Member)

How does an organisation build member value? How do you stay relevant? How do you integrate social media wisely? How do you identify major trends within association management? These were just some of the questions tackled as part of a panel session in which I participated at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) conference Great Ideas Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong earlier this week. 

It was a pleasure to be joined on the panel by executives from the Project Management Institute China, The Hong Kong Management Association and Korean MICE Association, as well as moderator Peter O'Neil, of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, who lead the dialogue. It was fascinating to hear such a culturally diverse group of association CEOs from around the world discuss their own organisation’s challenges and successes, especially in terms of change management and the process of transforming “great ideas” into action.

Diversity provides a lesson for each of us to be okay with and open to those things that set us apart – race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical and mental ability, language (the list goes on) and understanding and accepting of people for who they are. Being culturally aware provides an opportunity to stand back and consider that there are certain backgrounds, personal values, beliefs and upbringings that shape the things we all do. Learning about and listening to people from other cultures helps us relate to one another and be okay with different perspectives.

I saw this quote recently, and it’s stuck with me.

"Diversity is the one true thing we have in common."

Now that’s something to embrace.

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn here (click on link to listen to a CBAA podcast on diversity).

It is invaluable to have experienced people guiding your organisation. How can you obtain this help? A senior employee is a considerable investment, and you may not need long-term permanent help. An external consultant can provide invaluable expertise, but may be short term and costly. A board of directors gives the company direction, but being a director is a commitment that comes with considerable legal obligations. There is another alternative – appoint an advisory board. What is an advisory board, why should your business have one, and what issues need to be addressed?

What is an advisory board?

An advisory board is a group of individuals who provide know-how and strategic advice to the business’ co-founders, managers, and board of directors (if it has one). There is no hard and fast rule about what level of experience the members have or in what field they specialise. An advisory board is made up of whoever the founders choose.

You should choose people with the skills, experience and/or connections to help you grow your business. Advisory board members with contacts in the industry are of very high value to your business. When choosing your advisory board, try to find experts with different skills and experience to the founders. Having a broad skill set is generally more valuable to the business than having expertise in the same area.

How much will an advisory board cost?

Members of advisory boards typically provide their expertise free of charge. Some organisations might offer certain members a small amount of equity in exchange for a longer-term commitment to the business and as an incentive to stay on board.

What makes an advisory board different from a board of directors?

A board of directors is a shareholder-elected body that governs the company. The primary goal is to make decisions in the best interests of the company. Directors are in charge of business strategy, setting business goals, inspecting company accounts, and appointing senior executives, such as the CEO, to run the business. Board decisions are binding on the company.

An advisory board offers general advice on strategy, such as making directional recommendations based on their assessment of the business plan and offering ideas to test. Advisory board guidance is not binding on the company. Under the law, members of an advisory board do not have to comply with directors’ duties.

What liability does an advisory board have compared to a board of directors?

It is crucial to know the important distinction between directors and advisory board members, so they understand the risks, duties and liabilities of each role. Directors have director’s duties under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the general law and the corporate governance documents including the Shareholders’ Agreement. Directors have fiduciary duties to the company, which include exercising due care and diligence when making company decisions, and acting in the best interests of the company, and to endeavour to ensure that the company does not trade while insolvent.

These duties are a risk for directors. If directors do not uphold these duties, they can be expelled from the board, face legal repercussions, and be penalised under the Corporations Act. Directors need to know their obligations and duties. It is good business practice to take out insurance for directors and officers of the company.

Advisory board members need to be careful that they are not inadvertently acting as directors. Under the Corporations Act, directors are defined in two ways: (i) people appointed to be directors, and (ii) people with sufficient influence and power over the decisions of a company. The latter are de facto or shadow directors. De facto or shadow directors can be held to have full directors’ duties and liability.

Key legal agreements – terms of reference and an Advisory Board Agreement

In setting up an advisory board, it is important to have an Advisory Board Agreement that establishes expectations, roles, and legal protections for the business and its advisory board members. This includes confidentiality, and that all intellectual property generated by the advisory board for the business belongs to the business. Your Advisory Board Agreement should clearly set out that members have no power or influence over the running of the company, and the advisory board is not empowered to instruct or direct the directors.

The more clearly this distinction is set out in the agreement, the more protected your advisory board will be from inadvertently taking on the liability that comes with director’s duties. It is also a good idea to have a Terms of Reference, to give each member an overview of the other advisory board members, roles and obligations.

In conclusion, advisory boards can be an invaluable asset, and can assist in accelerating your business growth. A solid understanding of how an advisory board, and a strong Advisory Board Agreement, will allow you to protect the members from exposure to liability, and help your company benefit from their expertise.

This article first appeared on startup smart.

The recent 2015 Intergenerational Report illustrates that we need to take continued steps to boost productivity and encourage higher workforce participation to drive future economic growth. While the report projects income growth will slow, it also shows that Australia can continue to prosper by making the best of our circumstances and opportunities. Tax reform is a critical part of the Government’s policy to create jobs, growth and opportunity.

The Federal Government has released a new tax discussion paper which begins a dialogue on how we create a tax system that supports high economic growth and living standards, improves our international competitiveness and adjusts to a changing economy and new opportunities.

This paper specifically targets the Not-for-Profit (NFP) sector asking if the current tax arrangements are appropriate - raising issues around the ongoing availability of Fringe Benefits Tax concessions and other foregone tax revenue. Governments provide a number of tax concessions to support the NFP sector. While these tax concessions help increase the level of activity in the NFP sector, the value of revenue forgone from the concessions is significant and growing steadily. Tax concessions for the sector can also increase complexity, in part because they vary according to the type and purpose of NFP organisations. In some cases, NFP tax concessions provide NFPs with a competitive advantage over their commercial competitors.

Please find the full NFP chapter of the tax discussion paper here. For more information about this process and discussion please click here or check out the interactive website. 

The Treasurer opened the conversation on tax by releasing the tax discussion paper on 30 March 2015. The Government is seeking submissions on the issues raised in the discussion paper. You have until 1 June 2015 to lodge your formal submission.