Board Effectiveness and Mentorship Program

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) is governed by a Council of both professional and public members. The Council and its committees make decisions related to registration requirements, standards of practice, continuing professional development and the professional conduct of registrants.

The Challenge

CRPO has a mandate to ensure council effectiveness and make it an ongoing area of development. The Council is composed of professional and publicly appointed members. Members need rapid knowledge transfer as they have a fixed term on the council, and there is a lot to know.

To ensure protection of the public interest CRPO has:

Gathered data on effective governance practices
Integrated a comprehensive competency reflection and coaching tool
Implemented a formal council and staff mentoring program to further develop skills, competencies, and capabilities with all professional and public council members

Pollinate Approach:

Pollinate worked with the CRPO Registrar to create a comprehensive approach to measuring board effectiveness by creating and implementing:
an annual board effectiveness survey
a mobile committee meeting evaluation tool
competency framework
competency reflection tool
council mentoring program
staff mentoring program
an external governance review performed every 3 years
The annual Board Effectiveness Survey and mobile Committee Meeting Evaluation was first launched in Spring 2021 to all board members with results being shared at appropriate intervals with the CRPO Registrar in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
The competency framework initially in place in 2019 was formalized, and the competency reflection tool was implemented to all professional and public council members in 2022. Results were aggregated for the entire group with individual reports for each council and committee member being provided for coaching and further development.
A comprehensive mentoring program for all professional and public council members was launched in fall 2023 for 35 members and 10 staff.

Highlights

CRPO successfully implemented a framework to assess effectiveness and address any opportunities to improve. This new framework gives Council members insight into the behaviours and processes that ensure public safety, and includes data collection that enables on-going feedback and course correction, both at the individual and organizational level.

CRPO is focused on current issues affecting its membership: keeping engagement high during the pandemic, working through difference of opinion, keeping focus on public safety, and addressing the board’s need for development.

CRPO has built a scorecard to monitor and evaluate effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

Developed a mentoring program focused on regulatory-specific knowledge, governance, and chairing skills.

Results

High levels of engagement from the CRPO council members with 100% participation in the annual survey and extensive feedback collected with improvement suggestions for CRPO.
Defined and established 19 desired competencies and implemented these by bringing focus and establishing guidelines for standardizing competencies needed for each panel and committee based on role.
Assessed the current council competence and developed pathways for further development.
Implemented a bespoke mentoring program targeted at further developing competencies and transferring knowledge within council and staff groups.

Council Competency Areas

Governance
Finance
Risk Management
Strategy
Leadership / Change Management
Diversity & Inclusion
Stakeholder Relations / Communications
Critical Thinking
Technology Skills
Regulatory Knowledge
Heath System Knowledge

Client Testimonials

“With our Council’s mandate of protecting public safety, CRPO is a great example of an organization where we have to be as effective as possible in transferring knowledge to and between Council and Committee members. We appreciate our partnership with Pollinate – they have the perfect blend of metrics gathering and mentoring know-how, and are helping us increase our effectiveness in both.“

Deb Adams

Registrar and CEO

“The governance and operational roles are always getting clearer in my mind as a progress in the role of sitting on Council.”

Council Member

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