News reports revealed that the professional basketball B.League’s SeaGulls were required to submit a “Governance Improvement Plan” as a condition for receiving their license for the next season. The league’s move to impose “governance improvement” as a concrete license condition is highly suggestive.
However, there is a trap many organizations fall into here. It’s when “submitting the plan” itself becomes the goal, and creating a thick document gives a false sense of “having improved.” This risk is particularly high for plans created in response to external requests. Business owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, after creating your company’s “Basic Internal Control Policy” or “Compliance Regulations,” are they truly being “used”?
Governance is the “higher-level management design” for achieving business objectives. A plan is merely a part of that blueprint. Even a beautiful blueprint is meaningless if it’s not used on the ground. Using this news as a starting point, this article shares concrete methods, based on experience with over 38 companies, to transform a “Governance Improvement Plan” from a mere submission document into an effective “execution design document.”
The Moment “Plan Submission” Becomes the Goal
The SeaGulls’ case is a typical example of an external body (the B.League) demanding governance improvement. A similar dynamic frequently occurs in SMEs, such as loan conditions from financial institutions, audit requests from business partners, or stock exchange feedback during IPO preparations.
At such times, organizations tend to focus on the short-term goal of “submitting what was requested.” Legal or accounting departments often take the lead, referencing existing templates to create a comprehensive and “safe” plan. The result is a plan like this:
- “Conduct compliance training once a year.”
- “Establish internal whistleblowing regulations.”
- “Hold board of directors meetings monthly.”
At first glance, these aren’t wrong. However, they only state “what to do (What),” missing “how to execute it and how to leverage the results for the business (How & Why).” This reduces the plan to a mere “document for checking boxes” and fails to connect to the essence of governance: “designing to run the business better.”
Three Steps to Transform it into an “Execution Design Document”
So, how can you elevate a “Governance Improvement Plan”—whether demanded or created voluntarily—into an effective “execution design document”? Consider the following three steps.
Step 1: Rewrite from “What” to “How & Why”
First, transform the descriptions in the plan. Decompose abstract action goals into concrete execution processes and their purposes.
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