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• Acting as 'smoothing agent', the governance professional is an active player within conflict
resolution which can arise from the healthy tension of governance.
• The governance professional role operates as a competent boundary spanner by providing
the scaffolding to allow the board members to participate in the space between governing
and organisational management.
• The translator role of the college governance professional contributes to facilitating and
developing strong social relationships between governors and other significant actors,
in and around the board room.
• Governance professionals are highly effective in drawing on multiple sensemaking cues
to respond to unexpected or potentially contradictory contributions from governors.
• In acting as a conduit between the organisational space and the governance space,
and in conveying the knowledge/information across the space between, the governance
professional modifies and shapes it through processes of translation and sensemaking to
enact the strategic aims of the organisation.
Key points