IIW History 1990-2015

i f the Technical Management Board (TMB) and its respective Working Units were the backbone of IIW, and its qualification scheme was its very soul, then at the heart of IIW’s success was the way it was governed. Governance is a broad-ranging term encompassing the rules, relationships, policies, systems and processes whereby authority within an organisation is exercised and maintained. Good governance is about the processes for making and implementing decisions and therefore is accountable, transparent, equitable, inclusive, responsible, participatory, ethical and follows the rule of law. 1 The art of governance not only meets all of these criteria but also involves the incorporation of strategies related to inclusiveness such as equality, opportunity, rewards, recognition for outstanding service, and the opportunity for social interaction at IIWAnnual Assembly and Working Unit meetings. IIW’s early business/strategic planning process, in the 1990s, was mainly to solve the issues of the day and did not really focus on where the Institute was heading and how it was going to get there. Business planning within IIW has since become more professional in its design and in the way collective leadership could achieve its goals on issues of direct importance to the Institute. Following the completion of a new Constitution and the adoption of the final draft of IIW’s Bye-Laws in 1997, a ‘visioning’workshop was held in late 1997 to examine the ways and means of developing a new business plan for IIW. Elements of the IIW Business Plan were discussed in Hamburg, Germany in May 1998 but it was evident that considerable work was required before it was considered to be complete. 2 Mr Bevan Braithwaite assisted Mr Michel Bramat and the Secretariat in this process and, by the time of the forthcoming Annual Assembly meeting in Hamburg, Germany in September 1998, the Business Plan had been circulated to Member Societies, Commissions and other Working Units for input and was unanimously adopted at this Assembly. 3 A total of 22 strategies were included in the Business Plan on such aspects as relationships with ISO, creation of a new website, communications, environment, health and safety, the qualification scheme, and many other matters of importance to IIW. At the outset, the contents of the Business Plan were considered to be too ambitious and would require considerable resources for the plan to be implemented and monitored in

THE ART OF GOVERNANCE