“Yes, Mum,” “Yes, Sir,” “You are on point Chairman,” “As the Chairperson has said,” “I concur with the guidance of the Chairman,” etc are common words you hear in most Boardrooms. The desire for harmony or agreement by a group of people, in this case, board members often lead to dysfunctional decision making as some members may lack the backbone to speak up with an objective mind or a voice of reason to what is on the table before them. We have seen the groupthink risk in politics, where some decisions by the Members of Parliament in their desire for…
Are you a board member: answer the following questions?
On March 14th, 2013, the Board Chairman informed members at the board assembly that one of the directors had resigned mentioning busy and conflicting schedules. the primary reaction from one of the directors turned into “appropriate riddance!” the majority of the directors shared comparable sentiments. Some people are sick. They resign expected to be begged to stay, not knowing that peers and other colleagues alike are tired of their presence. You must continuously reflect on the value you add and whether it meets expectations especially of the appointing authority and your close peers. Key questions to continuously ask yourself are: How dynamic and impactful are you on the board? You need to manage board dynamics so that you impact not only fellow board members but…
Understanding the board’s oversight and going-concern roles
The two critical roles of the board of directors are (1) oversight and (2) going-concern. The oversight role entails effective risk management and compliance enterprise-wide. While the going-concern role is about organizational sustainability through effective strategy formulation, business model, and execution. What is going-concern? It is the primary role of the board to sustainably grow the business. The board must make sure their business they preside over can never go burst or collapse, otherwise, that is a sign of a poor board of directors. The first duty of the Board is to ensure sustainable growth. This is achieved by discussing…
Make your board more effective with this premium board template
The effectiveness of the board depends on the quality of the reports and papers the executive team prepares against which the board discussed are based. Yet, many leaders lack the skill to summarize lots of information into easy to read formats for a business executive. In the end, board members receive lots of information that is not easy to read thereby making the role more cumbersome and less interesting. As I have written in the past, the role of the Board Chairman is to manage the board to provide effective support to the executive team through the Chief Executive. The…
How to transform the company or person instantly
During a strategic retreat, the Chairman of the board was so impressed by my non-conventional approach to strategic planning that he labeled me Mr. Strategy. Here is what he said verbatim: “Mr. Strategy told us to focus on identifying our distinctive competence and developing capabilities to leverage it. I agree. He has also told us about focusing on a few things, by emphasizing that strategy is about making choices about how to win with customers and the stakeholders against the competition. And he is right. We have been trying to do so many things, which has made us lose our…
Is your board value-adding? Part 3, create a climate of trust
Do your board members see themselves as peers? Is there mutual trust and candor? In the first part, I listed the four practices that must be fostered among board members – open dissent, individual board member accountability, a climate of trust and candor, and above all, timely board evaluations to assess the board and individual board member impact. Every boardroom needs a climate of trust and candor. Say no to side-stepping on issues or avoiding difficult topics. Great CEOs communicate in detail the key issues to all directors so that they digest it as a whole. One of the…
