Governance & Risk Diagnostic
A short, fixed-scope review that tells you where you actually stand, and what to do about it first.
When this is the right starting point
You suspect there are gaps but can’t quite see the shape of them. A funder, insurer, accreditor or new trustee has started asking questions you can’t fully answer. You’ve had a near miss. Or you’re about to grow, and you already know the current setup won’t take the weight.
It’s also a sensible first step if you’re simply not ready to commit to a multi-month engagement with someone you’ve met once. That’s a reasonable position, and a fixed-scope piece of work is a fair way for both of us to find out whether we work well together.
The diagnostic gives you an honest, independent picture for a defined fee, in a defined timeframe. What you do next is entirely your call, and there’s no expectation attached.
What it covers
- Governance: board structure and reporting, policy framework, regulatory and charitable compliance, decision-making routes
- Risk: risk framework maturity against ISO 31000, register quality and use, escalation, crisis and incident readiness
- Safeguarding and duty of care: framework, training, reporting routes, evidence of assurance
- People and culture: structure, capacity, HR systems, wellbeing provision, single points of failure
- Operations: delivery systems, process gaps, where the organisation depends on individual heroics
What you get
A findings report
What’s working, what’s exposed, and where the real risk sits. Written plainly, for a board audience, and fair about the things you’re already doing well.
A prioritised road map
Not thirty recommendations. A sequenced list of what to fix first, what can wait, and what to stop doing.
A debrief session
Ninety minutes with you and, if useful, your board or leadership team, to walk through the findings and answer the hard questions properly.
How it runs
Document review, conversations with people across the organisation, and a site visit where that helps. Typically two to four days of work over two to three weeks, depending on the size of the organisation.
Fixed fee, agreed before we start, based on scope. If you decide to bring me in for longer afterwards, the diagnostic work rolls straight into the engagement rather than being charged again.