What we mean by good governance (and what we don’t)

/

Good governance is one of those phrases that gets used a lot, often right before someone proposes a new committee, a new policy, or a new layer of review.

That’s not what we mean.

At Mayflower, good governance isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right things, clearly and consistently so decision-making is sharper, accountability is real and the organisation holds its line when the pressure comes on.

Because pressure always comes on. It just arrives wearing different outfits: a regulator letter, a board question you can’t dodge, a product incident, a market wobble, a member complaint that goes viral.

Good governance is what stops those moments becoming a scramble.

Good governance is a system that helps people decide (not a machine that stops them)

The Australian Institute of Company Directors puts it plainly: governance is about how decisions are made and power is exercised and how the people exercising that power are held to account.

Good governance:

  • supports decision-making rather than slowing it down

  • makes accountability visible (and real) not implied, not assumed

  • aligns strategy, marketing and disclosure so you don’t end up with three competing versions of “the truth”

  • stands up when things are tested by regulators, boards, members or all three at once

  • is reviewed periodically to make sure the arrangements are still fit for purpose and adequately support the organisation in its current operating environment.

APRA’s governance standard (CPS 510) talks about the need for a “sound governance framework” that fits the organisation’s size and complexity and expects affairs to be conducted “with a high degree of integrity.” That’s a good litmus test: if your framework looks impressive but doesn’t hold integrity in practice, it’s not doing its job.

In PDS management, “good governance” shows up as disclosure you can trust

In the disclosure world, governance isn’t theoretical. It becomes visible in your documents.

ASIC’s guidance on Product Disclosure Statements is built around practical “good disclosure principles” and flags the real compliance risks: inconsistency, inaccuracy, missing or unclear information and disclosures that don’t actually help the reader understand the product.

So in PDS management, good governance means disclosures that are:

  • accurate (factually right, supportable, and current)

  • consistent (across versions, channels, and the website)

  • understood by the people who rely on them

And sitting around that:

  • clear decision rights (who decides, who advises, who is accountable)

  • escalation paths that work in real life (not just on paper)

  • measures that tell you whether the system is working (not whether the system exists)

  • controls that sit inside the workflow—not bolted on at the end

  • periodic review of the governance arrangements so they stay current and useful

Good governance is not:

  • governance theatre (lots of rituals, little effect)

  • documentation for documentation’s sake (a control that creates risk because nobody reads it)

  • “because we’ve always done it this way” (the most expensive sentence in any organisation)

  • Something that you do once and file under ‘done’!

This is also why we’re always concerned when we find single person PDS management models, where one person holds the document history in their head and everyone else hopes they don’t resign mid-roll. Mature governance builds a process that’s repeatable and auditable without being painful. (If you’ve lived through a PDS roll, you know exactly what I mean.)

It’s consistent with how we talk about our work: reducing risk and complexity, improving efficiency and supporting organisations through high-stakes change where regulation and reputation are on the line.

In short

Good governance creates confidence for boards, executives, regulators and members. It allows organisations to change, innovate and grow without losing control of risk.

Because when governance is effective, organisations don’t just comply, they perform better. They move faster with fewer surprises. They communicate with more credibility. They make decisions they can defend.

And that, in our view, is governance done properly..