If you're the one holding the governance secretariat, operations, or administrator role for a post-settlement trust or hapū organisation, this one's for you.
These roles get described in job ads as broad and varied, central, pivotal, the connector between governance and the wider organisation. All true. What doesn't always make it into the ad is how much weight that actually is to carry, especially when you're new to the role, the organisation is growing fast, and there often isn't anyone else in the building who's done this before.
The parts nobody warns you about
Board packs and minutes are the visible part of the job. The harder part is the judgment calls sitting underneath them. Knowing when something is routine admin versus something that needs to go to the board as a governance matter. Sensing when a conflict of interest is forming before anyone's named it. Holding confidential information about whānau, hapū, and iwi matters that carries real weight, and doing it without a manual to check against.
It's common to feel like you're expected to already know all of this, particularly in a newly created role where you're the first person to hold it. That feeling is worth naming rather than pushing through quietly. It doesn't mean you're not capable. It means the role was built to hold more than one person can reasonably carry alone.
Bringing in support isn't a sign you're not coping
Boards routinely bring in outside expertise for legal, financial, and audit matters, and nobody reads that as the finance team failing at their job. Governance advisory support works the same way. An independent trustee, a governance advisor, or someone experienced to sense check a difficult decision isn't a replacement for you. It's someone in your corner, there specifically so the weight of getting every judgment call right doesn't sit on your shoulders alone.
If you're in one of these roles and something is sitting uneasily, a decision, a process, a gap you've noticed in how things are documented, that instinct is usually worth listening to. Raising it isn't overstepping. It's exactly what the role is there to do.
A few things worth knowing you're allowed to ask for
- Clarity from your Chair or GM on what genuinely needs to come to the board versus what you can action yourself
- A proper induction into governance basics, not just the systems and templates
- Someone outside the organisation you can run a tricky situation past, without it needing to become a whole process
- Permission to say when something feels bigger than your role was set up to hold
None of this makes you less capable. It's what keeps a good governance framework standing over the long run, rather than resting entirely on one person's shoulders.
This article is general information and isn't a substitute for advice on your specific situation. If you're navigating a governance question in your role and want an outside perspective, get in touch.