Most of us see a doctor periodically to check our health before problems become serious. Prevention is easier than cure. The same principle applies to committees and the organisations they govern: a regular health check catches problems while they’re small and manageable, rather than letting them develop into crises.

Yet most committees never formally assess their own health. They meet, they govern, and they assume things are working — until something forces them to confront a problem that’s been quietly developing for months or years.

Why Conduct a Health Check?

A committee health check is a structured, periodic review of how well the committee and organisation are functioning. Done regularly, it lets you:

  • Detect problems early, before they become serious
  • Track progress toward your goals and targets
  • Identify gaps in your governance, operations or strategy
  • Maintain alignment between the organisation’s activities and its mission
  • Demonstrate to members and funders that the committee takes its responsibilities seriously

The cost of a health check is a few hours of committee time once or twice a year. The cost of not doing one is discovering your problems only when they’ve become impossible to ignore — by which point they’re far more expensive to fix.

What to Assess

A thorough committee health check covers several areas:

Legal and compliance:

  • Are all regulatory requirements current (annual returns, ACNC reporting, state association obligations)?
  • Are governance records complete and up to date?
  • Is the organisation’s incorporated status in good standing?

Governance and management:

  • Are meetings well-run, well-attended and properly documented?
  • Are decisions made effectively and followed through?
  • Do committee members understand their roles and fulfil them?
  • Are there governance gaps or recurring issues that need addressing?

Strategy and operations:

  • Is there a clear, current strategic plan?
  • Do the organisation’s activities align with its mission?
  • Are priorities clear and resourced appropriately?
  • How does the organisation perform against its goals?

People and resources:

  • Are staff and volunteers retained and developed?
  • Do members and volunteers feel valued?
  • Are the organisation’s resources managed efficiently?

A health check is only as good as the evidence behind it.

Process PA keeps a complete record of every meeting, decision and action — so when you assess your committee's health, you're working from documented fact, not impression. Try it free.

Start Free Trial 30 days free · No credit card required

Signs of a Healthy Committee and Organisation

You can gauge organisational health by how well the committee does the following:

  • Plans ahead rather than only reacting
  • Adapts to changing circumstances and demands
  • Retains and develops its people
  • Manages its resources efficiently and effectively
  • Makes its members and volunteers feel valued
  • Delivers quality service to those it serves
  • Collaborates well with other organisations
  • Meets its targets
  • Addresses its weaknesses honestly
  • Resolves issues and works through problems constructively

An organisation that does most of these consistently is in good health. One that struggles with several of them has identified exactly where to focus its improvement efforts.

How to Run the Health Check

The most effective health checks are:

Collective, not individual. A single person’s view of committee health is partial and biased. Involve the whole committee, and ideally gather input from staff and key stakeholders too.

Honest. A health check that produces only comfortable answers isn’t a real assessment. The questions that reveal problems are the valuable ones. Create an environment where members can be candid without it becoming personal.

Structured. Use a consistent set of questions or framework so you can compare year to year. This turns the health check from a one-off conversation into a tool for tracking improvement over time.

Action-oriented. A health check that identifies problems but produces no action is wasted effort. Conclude by prioritising the issues found and assigning specific actions — with owners and deadlines — to address them. Then review those actions at subsequent meetings, like any other governance commitment.

A committee that takes its own health seriously enough to assess it regularly is, almost by definition, a healthier committee than one that doesn’t.