The role of a board of directors can best be described as:

a.    To decide which operational activities are to be undertaken by the organization and assist with those activities.

b.    To receive reports of committees, debate the appropriateness of Committee work and tell the committees what to do.

c.    To provide oversight and accountability to ensure the College meets its legal obligations and set the strategic directions of the organization.

d.    I don’t know.

The role of the Chair of the Board is best described as:

a.    Making decisions on behalf of the board when it is not in session.

b.    Facilitating discussions and chairing meetings.

c.    To lead the board to the decisions they believe is the correct one.

d.    I don’t know.

The role of senior management of the College is best described as:

a.    Presenting ideas for operational activities to the board for approval

b.    To determine and implement operational activities that move the organization closer to the board’s strategic objectives.

c.    To take minutes of board and committee meetings.

The role of board and committee members can best be described as:

a.    Follow the lead of the board or committee Chair.

b.    Follow the lead of the CEO or management staff in committees

c.    To ensure that the profession’s interests are being addressed.

d.    To read materials and offer unbiased opinions, discuss options and make decisions.

e.    I don’t know.

You are at a Board meeting where a new policy governing the profession is proposed to be adopted. As the discussion progresses, all the members seem to be in agreement on the appropriate decision to be made. You don’t agree. What should you do?

a.    Be quiet and let the group consensus prevail.

b.    Interject into the discussions to make sure everyone changes their minds.

c.    Ask the Chair to speak and present your views and rationale.

d.    None of the above.

As an elected Board member, you are told that you hold a position of trust. On behalf of whom do you hold this position?

a.    The Registrants in the district where you were elected.

b.    All Registrants of the College (members of the profession).

c.    The Minister of Health for Ontario.

d.    The people of Ontario.

e.    I don’t believe it is a position of trust.

Which of the following best describes the most effective way for you to meet the obligations of trust placed upon you is:

a.    To attend meetings, participate in every discussion and vote to support the profession.

b.    To read materials, note questions, participate in discussions, avoid conflict of interest and support board decisions.

c.    To read materials, discuss the issues with your colleagues and vote together as a block.

d.    I don’t believe it is a position of trust.

The most appropriate way to show leadership on a board or committee is:

a.    To state your opinions and work towards getting others to agree.

b.    To listen to what other say and take the position of the majority.

c.    To state your views and listen to the views of others with an open mind.

You are at a board meeting and the discussion becomes rather heated with board members becoming entrenched on both sides of the issue being discussed. Which of the following best describes the approach you would take in this situation?

a.    Engage individuals on both sides of the discussion seeking clarification and information as to why they hold the position they do.

b.    Sit quietly, wait for passions to dissipate, and wish the board chair good luck.

c.    Passionately jump into the dialogue to make sure the side you agree with wins the day.

You are attending a committee meeting and the CEO joins the meeting to present an emerging issue facing the organization and your committee. The CEO asks for the thoughts of the committee members. What is the best approach for you to take?

a.    Tell the CEO to come back to the committee with proposed approaches for review and approval.

b.    Engage in dialogue with the CEO and committee to work to define approaches and opportunities.

c.    Tell the CEO that this is operations and its their problem to solve.

The Board Chair is proposing a new evaluation process that would require you to evaluate your own performance, the performance of your peers, the performance of the board and each committee. The process would take each board member over three hours of survey completion and meeting with a consultant individually. Which of the following best describe your first impression of this proposal?

a.    It’s a waste of time as self-evaluations don’t work, and peer evaluations are biased.

b.    Nice idea but it will take too much work on the part of all.

c.    It’s a lot of time but evaluations are important to improving organizational performance.

The CEO brings forward a proposal that the Board adopt a competency-based selection process for appointing individuals to committees. The proposal suggests that only individuals who possess certain skills and who demonstrate an aptitude to learn certain other skills are suitable for appointment. Which of the following best describes your impression of this proposal?

a.    This is crazy, we will be lucking to get anyone to volunteer as it stands and this will make it impossible.

b.    A novel approach but it is impossible to accurate evaluate individuals against the skills.

c.    Its important to ensure that committee members have the skills needed to do the job. The devil will be in the detail of what the competencies are.

The Policy Governance Review Committee brings a new policy to the Board for their consideration. The proposed policy sets out a new approach as to how individuals might move forward from the Board to the Executive Committee and eventually on to the Board Chair role. Which of the following best describes your initial thoughts on the proposal?

a.    This proposal would interfere with the democratic processes of the Board as is a poor choice.

b.    Provided the approach incorporates some flexibility, it addresses issues in succession planning for vital leadership positions.

c.    Planning for who takes over the leadership is the least important of issues to be discussed.

The concept of risk management is best described as which of the following:

a.    Identifying the liabilities faced by an organization and purchasing sufficient insurance to cover them.

b.    Identifying the risks an organization faces and establishing processes to eliminate or reduce the potential of the risks occurring or their impact should they occur.

c.    Another governmental concept that requires no real action.

d.    I don’t know.

You are in a board meeting where the topic of risk management is raised as a concern. Not a lot of people have an understanding of what risk management is all about. Which of the following best describes the approach you would take to assist the board.

a.    Recommend that the board defer the discussion and retain a risk management consultant to educate the board.

b.    Google risk management and read out what you find to the board.

c.    Recommend that the board defer the discussion to the next meeting and that board members engage in research.

Which of the following does not belong as part of the process for the Board’s management of the CEO?

a.    Recruiting an individual with the necessary skills to perform the job.

b.    Benchmarking an annual salary commensurate with the individual’s skill and experience based on market value.

c.    Setting annual goals and objectives for the individual.

d.    Working to develop an appropriate development plan for the individual.

e.    Providing for an annual review of the individual against the goals and objectives.

f.    Obtaining feedback from staff on the important management techniques used by the CEO.

g.    Obtaining Council input on performance of the CEO.

h.    Providing feedback to the CEO and noting any performance concerns, issues or areas for improvement.

i.    Identifying individual board members who have issues so that the CEO may discuss the concerns with them.

j.    Identifying how improved performance will be measured.

k.    Providing for an annual salary increase or bonus for good performance.

The Director of Operations presents the budget for the coming year to the board of directors. Which of the following best describes your role in considering the budget:

a.    That the budget is balanced netting to zero.

b.    That the salary dollars set out in the budget are kept to a minimum.

c.    That the Board and operational activities are suitably funded in the budget.

d.    None of the above.

The Board receives the unaudited financial statements for the third quarter of the fiscal year. When contemplating actual spending against budgeted costs, what percentage should be used for benchmarking purposes?

a.    25%

b.    75%

c.    66%

d.    100%

The unaudited financial statements for the third quarter of the fiscal year also include projections for the fiscal year end. Those projections indicate that the College will incur a deficit of $36,000. What is the most important consideration for board members?

a.    What programs and services can be cut to eliminate the proposed deficit?

b.    Which staff might be laid off to eliminate the proposed budget?

c.    Whether the organization has the reserves to off set the budget?

d.    Understanding why the variance occurred and what steps have been taken to correct any issues.

e.    “a” and “b” combined.

f.    “c” and “d” combined.

The Board meeting agenda includes a discussion about a post-registration certification examination and whether it is too difficult for registrants to pass. A fellow board member, who is a professional member, has privately told you that he has completed the certification course that is necessary to sit the exam and that he has failed the examination at his first attempt. Which of the following statements best describes the situation?

a.    The board member’s failed attempt at the exam is not relevant to the discussion of making the exam easier.

b.    The board member’s failed attempt at the exam places him in a perceived conflict of interest because if it were known, outside parties might think he would benefit personally from an easier examination.

c.    The board member’s failed attempt at the exam places him in a real conflict of interest because he would benefit personally from an easier examination.

d.    I’m really not sure.

Which of the following approaches best addresses how the Board member might resolve the situation:

a.    He should tell the board of his failed attempt at the exam, identify that he is in a conflict of interest, and he should step away from the board meeting for the discussion of this item.

b.    He should tell the board of his failed attempt at the exam but also note that it has no bearing on discussing the exam content and continue to participate in the discussion.

c.    He should resign from the board until he passes the examination.

Ethical decision-making means that all decisions made by a Board are fair, objective, impartial and transparent. Which of the following statements best describes why ethical decision-making is important to a Board?

a.    Unethical decision making will impugn the reputation of the board members and result in a lawsuit against them.

b.    In order to protect the integrity of an organization, decisions made by the organization must be applied equally to all, be made against a known set of rules, be made without bias or conflict and in a manner that is open to individuals to know how and why decisions are made.

c.    Fair, objective, impartial, and transparent decisions only applies to registration decisions and do not apply broadly to the entire organization.

Which of the following best describes the meaning of “unconscious bias”?

a.    Biases that are based on implicit associations we harbor in our subconscious that cause us to have feelings and attitudes about other people based on certain characteristics.

b.    Bias that you learn while you are sleeping.

c.    Biases that are societal in nature and are learned by being a member of one specific cultural group.

d.    I’ve never really heard of this idea.

Conflict of Interest, bias, unconscious bias, and ethical decision-making all speak to the reputation of an organization. Reputations are built over a long period of time but can be lost in an instant. Which of the following best describes the importance of the reputation of an organization?

a.    The loss of reputation can result in financial loss for the organization due to loss of registrants.

b.    The loss of reputation can result in an increase in expenses due to the organization having to retain a public relations firm to assist in deflecting the concerns.

c.    The loss of reputation can result in questioning of current and prior decisions of the organization based on concerns that they have been made unethically, with bias, or while decision-makers are in a conflict of interest.

d.    I don’t really know.

Which of the following best describes Ontario health care system broadly?

a.    Health care is primarily financed by private insurers who generally make the rules surrounding how health care is delivered.

b.    Health care is a public/private coalition with Government regulating the system and both public and private insurance funding it.

c.    Health care is highly regulated in Ontario and Government generally makes the rules surrounding how health care is delivered.

In your view, which of the following best describes the purpose of regulating health professions?

a.    To improve the ability of the health professions to earn better incomes.

b.    To restrict the number of health professionals practicing the profession.

c.    To protect the public from harm.

d.    I really am not sure.

A health regulatory College is accountable to which organization?

a.    The Minister of Health on behalf of the people of Ontario.

b.    Health Profession Regulators of Ontario.

c.    Professional associations on behalf of the health professionals.

d.    The Toronto Star on behalf of Ontarians.

e.    No one.

Which of the following best describes why the College regulates naturopaths in Ontario?

a.    To ensure that the public has access to NDs who have the knowledge, skill and judgment to practice safely, ethically and competently.

b.    To ensure that the profession is reigned in from undertaking activities that are outside of the scope of practise.

c.    To create an organization to police NDs’ activities and behaviours.

The mandate of the College includes four primary roles. First, to register qualified individuals to practise in Ontario (registration). Second, to ensure that registered individuals undertake continuing education and professional development to maintain their competency (quality assurance). Third, to set and maintain the standards of practise of the profession (standards). Fourth, to hold the profession accountable for the decisions they make within their practice and ancillary activities (complaints/discipline). Which of the following represents the proper order to prioritise these four activities?

a) Registration, quality assurance, standards, complaints/discipline.

b) Quality assurance, standards, complaints/discipline, registration.

c) Standards, complaints/discipline, registration, quality assurance.

d) Complaints/discipline, registration, quality assurance, standards.

e) They are all of equal priority.