Governance can sound bigger and more complicated than it needs to be.
It is often associated with laws, policies, organizational charts, boards and formal decision-making structures. Those are all part of governance, but they are not governance on their own.
At its most practical level, governance helps answer some fairly basic questions:
- Who is responsible?(Roles and responsibilities)
- Who decides?(Authority and approval limits)
- What information do they need?(Records, reports, and evidence)
- How do decisions move between people?(Handoffs and triggers)
- Who are they accountable to?(Reporting and oversight)
- What happens when something falls outside their authority?(Escalation path and final authority)
In simple terms, governance creates the playing field people operate within.
It gives people enough clarity to act within their responsibilities without having to send every decision upward for approval. It also establishes where a decision needs to go when it involves different responsibilities, greater risk, or authority that sits somewhere else.
Governance is not only about who can make a decision. It also helps establish what should guide that decision. Depending on the organization and the decision being made, that might include:
- The Nation’s laws, teachings, values and priorities;
- the mandate or direction established by member Nations or an owner;
- policies and delegated authorities;
- legal, financial, regulatory or commercial requirements; and
- the information needed to make a well-informed decision.
Not every decision will involve all of these. Good governance helps make clear which ones matter, and who is responsible for considering them.
When those pieces work together, governance can make decisions clearer, accountability stronger and day-to-day work easier.
Governance will not look the same everywhere
Governance matters across many different Indigenous organizations, but that does not mean they all need the same structure.
A Nation government or administration may need clarity between Council direction and delegated administrative authority.
A tribal council may need clarity on what authority its member Nations have given it, what remains with those Nations, what its board can decide and how accountability flows back.
A Nation-owned business or economic development corporation may need clarity between the Nation as owner or shareholder, the board and management.
Within any of those organizations, one person may carry several responsibilities because that makes sense for the organization’s size and resources.
The answer is not always another department, committee or layer of approval.
The better question is whether people understand what role they are acting in, where that role’s authority comes from, what decisions they can make, what should guide those decisions, and what happens next.
Good governance should fit the organization and the governance context it serves, rather than expecting every organization to fit the same model.
This article provides the foundation for a broader GNPCI series on governance in practice. Other pieces look more closely at putting governance into use, governance through organizational change, and how delegated authority can support action without weakening accountability.
Questions worth asking
Where does our authority or mandate come from, and is that understood?
Do people understand what decisions they have authority to make?
What should guide those decisions?
When something falls outside that authority, is it clear where it goes?
Are our structures helping people act, or creating unnecessary uncertainty?
A practical place to start
Governance work does not always begin with creating something new. A useful starting point is understanding what already exists, what is working, where authority sits and how decisions are actually being made.
GNPCI supports Indigenous Nations and organizations with practical governance work adapted to their priorities and context. Learn more about GNPCI Governance Advisory, or download the Governance Advisory brochure.
If you are working through a governance question, change, opportunity or recent event and would value a confidential conversation, start a conversation.
The goal is to make governance recognizable, practical and workable in the context it is meant to serve.
