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Advisory Services

The Institute On Governance provides advice on all aspects of governance. This advice is based on our extensive experience in Canada and abroad, working across all sectors of society on a wide range of subjects. Our advice is underpinned by our extensive research. 

Governance reform is not only about governance structures, but also about governance processes, policies, standards, capacity, and capacity-building. We can provide you with advice on any or all of these aspects.

There are many hurdles to overcome on the journey to good governance. These include tradition, politics, personalities, ineffective structures and processes, time constraints, organizational culture, inertia, disincentives and inexperienced leadership. We work with our clients to review their formal and informal governance systems and what they want to achieve, and advise on how to overcome the many challenges.

We provide advice in the form of options, recommendations or scenarios. We also assist with the development of action plans to implement the changes required and can provide ongoing mentoring as you embark on the change process.

Governance reform is typically 20 – 25% substance and 75 – 80% process. How you go about change determines the outcome. Leadership, consultation, communication, analysis, incentives and technology can all contribute to a successful result. We can help you to determine a strategy that’s likely to work given your particular objectives, history, stakeholders, context and culture.

The Institute On Governance also provides evaluation and assessment services with a governance focus, based on our five Principles of Good Governance. We can help you to assess the governance of your organization, your policies or programs, your stakeholder relations, or even the broader system within which you work.

Our evaluation and assessment services include:

  • Developing evaluation and assessment frameworks;
  • Developing indicators and identifying potential sources of information;
  • Advising on appropriate evaluation and assessment methodologies and tools;
  • Conducting evaluations and assessments;
  • Assessing the alignment of governance structures and processes with governance principles;
  • Stakeholder mapping, analysis and engagement to improve relations with external stakeholders;
  • Performance measurement and management;
  • Strategic planning and implementation.

Our evaluations and assessments use a range of research methods and typically result in both conclusions and recommendations.