We've talked in a general way about good governance and principled leadership. Now we need to look at what these ideas mean in practice, and how we can recognize them in our co-ops.

So here we're going to talk about 10 good governance practices, together with some simple ways you can tell how your board measures up on each one. Let's start by listing them. A board that practises good governance

• is aware of its legal duties
• knows the co-op's purposes
• has a strategic focus
• acts transparently
• is accountable
• acts fairly
• is responsive to the members
• is effective in getting results
• evaluates its own performance
• plans for its succession.

Let's look at each of these more closely.