Structure your first three months around understanding the organisation, establishing priorities and getting governance routines working. A practical guide for a new Group Company Secretary, with a personal planning worksheet.
Free PDF · 10 pages · Guide with planning worksheet
By Beyond Governance
- Use a three-phase structure for your first months
- Recognise five common traps in a new role
- Test your understanding and record your priorities
Building your understanding of the role
Starting as Group Company Secretary means learning how the organisation works while taking responsibility for its governance function. The formal documents are part of the picture. Relationships, existing pressures and the way decisions are made also need attention.
The First 90 Days as Group Company Secretary provides a structure for that work. It moves through assessment, establishing priorities and putting routines into practice, then offers common traps, questions to test your understanding and a personal worksheet. Treat the phases as adaptable priorities, with urgent matters addressed as they arise.
What is inside
Assess the organisation and function
Use the first phase to build an understanding of the governance arrangements, people and issues you are taking on.
Establish relationships and priorities
Consider the working relationships and practical priorities needed to support the board and the governance function.
Put routines into practice
Review how governance work becomes reliable in daily use and what you should understand about the organisation by this stage.
Traps and signs of progress
Explore five common traps, questions that test your understanding and indicators to reflect on as you settle into the role.
Your personal worksheet
Use the final worksheet to record priorities and organise your own approach to the first three months.
Who the guide is for
New Group Company Secretaries, governance leaders moving into a more senior role and professionals preparing to take responsibility for an established governance function.
A question to test your understanding
Can you identify the biggest governance risk currently facing the organisation? The guide uses this kind of question to help you assess what you have learned and what still needs investigation.
Why download the guide
It gives the first months a practical structure while leaving room for the circumstances of the role. Use it to keep track of what you need to understand, which relationships need attention and where your effort should go next.
How to use it
Review the phases at the start of the role and adapt the worksheet to your organisation. Return to the questions as your understanding develops. The 90-day period is a planning discipline rather than a fixed deadline for completing every change.
Download the first 90 days guide
Plan your early priorities as Group Company Secretary with a clearer structure.
Button: Download the 90 day guide
Related resources
Company Secretarial Team Challenges
Further support
Explore CoSec on Demand if additional governance capacity would support your transition into the role.
