Governance Health Assessment: A Checklist to Find Where Programs Stall

Governance programs stall in predictable ways. Controls are too broad to operate consistently, evidence is fragmented, and approvals expand until teams work around them. A short assessment helps teams identify where the program is breaking down and which operating changes will have the biggest impact.

What the assessment covers

This checklist evaluates governance as an operating system, not a documentation project. It focuses on:

Control clarity: are controls specific enough to apply consistently?

Coverage: are the highest-risk actions governed in practice?

Evidence: can decisions be reconstructed without manual reconstruction?

Approvals: are approvals targeted, owned, and time-bound?

Exceptions: are overrides handled with accountability and traceability?

Ownership: is it clear who owns decisions at runtime?

How teams use it

Most teams run the checklist against one workflow first, then expand. The output should be a short, operational list of actions, for example:

Tighten three controls that are too broad

Define five risk signals that trigger review

Standardize required evidence for a set of actions

Clarify ownership for approvals and exception handling

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