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Sport Governance and Organisational Enhancement

Governance Plans

Supporting sports to achieve contemporary governance arrangements

The Governance Plan is the mechanism by which ASC and state and territory agencies for sport and recreation (STASR) support sports to achieve contemporary governance arrangements.

Using the annual Sport Governance Standards (SGS) results to help establish priorities, organisations develop an action plan to raise their governance maturity level.

The Governance Plan is available on the Game Plan platform for all recognised NSOs and SSOs.

Key elements of a sport’s Governance Plan

  • Tiered approach – the expected sport governance maturity level is relative to the size of the organisation
  • Focus Areas – sector-wide emphasis on implementation of key elements of governance designed to create a step-change for the sector and focus resources
  • Template activities - prompting activities designed to directly achieve positive outcomes, supporting organisations to hit the ground running
  • Resource support - a suite of resources is available in the National Sports Governance Library, available on the Clearinghouse for Sport website (requires a free member login)
  • Chair/President approval - organisations are required to ensure board and management are aligned
  • One plan for governance - the Governance Plan is designed to capture all elements of the governance journey, reducing duplication

Why should a sporting organisation have a Governance Plan?

There are multiple actions that need to be undertaken regularly to develop and sustain effective governance practices. The Governance Plan is designed to collate these actions into a single document, simplifying the process and enabling the ASC and state and territory agencies for sport and recreation (STASR) to assist organisations in a methodical manner.

Each Governance Plan includes activities to help the sporting organisation improve their governance practices in areas the ASC and STASR identify as Focus Areas for the sector. The ASC and STASR will support organisations as they work to improve in each area. Organisations are encouraged to include activities to address low rating standards from their own self-assessment against the SGS.

Focus Areas to guide governance planning

Results of SGS assessments in previous years has revealed that focus on key principles is foundational to good governance.

Watch this animation for more information.

Governance Performance Cycle

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The Timeline:

April to May - SGS Self-Assessment,  Online survey completed by each NSO/D & SSO/D

June - Governance Plan Development, Development of tailored plan for next 12 months, based on SGS* results.

July - GOE Plan Implementation, Deliver actions from July to June, ASC/STASR** support

AGM (Nov) to AGM (May) - Boards present Governance Report,  Governance performance presented to members in Annual Report at AGM.

More information

For further information or to request assistance, NSOs can contact sportsgovernance@ausport.gov.au and a governance adviser will contact you. All other sporting organisations are encouraged to contact their state or territory agency for sport and recreation for more information.

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