Aspect 4.2
Governance behaviour
How the board goes about applying a principle. Behaviour is the human side of governance: whether the board has taken the principle up, understands why it matters, can describe how it applies it, compares itself with leading practice, evaluates itself and improves.
What this aspect rates
ISO 37004 describes six observable features: adoption, understanding, application, analysis, evaluation and improvement. The draft applies them to the controlled group case. They run in order, and a board that claims adoption without being able to explain the rationale is at an early level, not a late one.
The question to ask: Could the board explain, today, why this principle matters to this group and how it applies it, with an example?
Evidence for this aspect
- One rating per principle, with the feature that supports it and the board record that shows it.
- The interpretation confirmed with the stakeholder the rating concerns, because behaviour is a judgement.
- The resource actually available to the board, since thin resourcing caps the level.
- A note on what would move the rating up one level, in the board's own words.
Where this aspect is usually overstated
- Adoption claimed with no rationale, which is a level 1 signal rather than a level 4 one.
- A rating taken from a policy document instead of from what the board did.
- No confirmation from the people whose behaviour is being rated.
- A high rating for a board that meets often but never examines its own practice.
Two boards, one aspect
In a controlled group, behaviour has two audiences. The controller's board is rated on how it applies the principle across the group, and each controlled entity's board is rated on how it applies the principle inside its own organization while respecting the group direction. A rating that averages the two hides the case the draft is worried about: a competent entity board that has stopped exercising judgement because the controller decides.
Where it enters the model
Source for this page
- ISO 37004:2023, Governance of organizations, Governance maturity model, Guidance. The published text of the organizational governance maturity model, which the draft applies to controlled groups. Supplies the three aspects, the measurement framework, the six-point scale, the dimensions and the 35 model requirements stated on this site.
- ISO 37000:2021, Governance of organizations, Guidance. The published text of ISO 37000:2021, which supplies the eleven governance principles and the seven governance conditions the model measures, and the vocabulary the draft adopts.
- ISO/DIS 37014 official record. The designation, title, edition, committee, ICS, stage, stage date, page count, price and abstract. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
Retrieved 2026-10-21. The requirement above is our statement of the clause in our own words; the official text is linked so you can check it.
The maturity kit, USD 299 one off. The 35-requirement register, the 54-cell maturity worksheet, the evidence list and a dated plan, as PDF, CSV and XLSX.