Enterprise governance is not a committee. It is the architecture through which an entire organization makes decisions.
This playbook installs governance across every level — board, executive, business unit and function — as one connected system that keeps decisions fast, accountable and aligned as the enterprise scales.
The governance stack
Five connected layers — each with a defined mandate and decision rights.
Board Governance
Purpose, strategy oversight, CEO accountability and institutional stewardship.
Executive Governance
Enterprise decisions, capital allocation, portfolio and cross-functional trade-offs.
Business Unit Governance
Delegated authority, performance ownership and local decisions within guardrails.
Functional Governance
Policies, standards and controls for finance, people, technology and risk.
Risk & Assurance
Risk appetite, controls, compliance and independent assurance across the enterprise.
What every layer needs
Decision Rights
Who decides, who is consulted, who is informed — documented as a matrix.
Delegation of Authority
Thresholds that keep decisions fast without losing control.
Committee Design
The minimum set of forums, each with a clear mandate and cadence.
Reporting & Escalation
What moves up, when, and how issues escalate cleanly.
Policies & Standards
The few rules that matter, enforced consistently.
Governance should accelerate growth — never slow it down.
The rollout sequence
Assess
Map current decisions, bottlenecks and gaps with IGMA™.
Design
Decision matrix, DoA, committee structure and reporting.
Implement
Launch forums, train leaders and run the new cadence.
Mature
Measure decision speed and quality; refine annually.
Measure governance maturity across ten domains with the IGMA™ assessment.