Human behaviour is not so clearly influenced by rules, as it is by norms. Perhaps our governance needs to refocus on norms?
Governance, perhaps we’ve not quite got this right.
Maybe, whilst principles are one way of describing and articulating governance, we need to be more pragmatic, more honest about what this really means.
In my experience, failings within organisations that are often attributed to governance don’t originate from the absence of, or weaknesses in policies, procedures and controls; but are actually breakdowns in culture.
The norms within our organisations can be guided by the rules we set, but perhaps if we can create better norms, encourage better behaviour, then we won’t need rules at all.
Leadership drives culture and culture is being human.
