Board of Directors Consulting Is Your Board Living Up to Its Potential? From our work with Boards of Directors, we find that effectiveness boils down to five key attributes. Assess your board against the following five attributes — and take action!
The Art of Board of Director/Management Relations The art of creating an excellent board/management relationship is two-fold. On one hand, as simple as it may sound, it’s crucial to generate genuine rapport between both sides. For example, we recently worked with the board of directors of a financial institution where rapport was so important that they passed over an otherwise very highly qualified CEO candidate because, "He had all of the experience and brainpower, but the fact is that we simply didn’t feel we related well to the guy. That made us question whether he would form the relationships he needed to develop within the company." On the other hand, each side must hold the other mutually accountable in order for a high performing relationship to be developed and sustained. Management rightly expects that the board will spend the time and effort to review management reports and actions (their "homework"). The board rightly expects that their ideas and concerns will be considered and that they will be kept informed so there are no serious "surprises". When both rapport and accountability are part of the mix, boards of directors and management have a much higher probability of creating a successful—and seamless—working relationship. Facilitators Supercharge Your Meetings Using a professional facilitator at your board/executive meeting or offsite helps you go deeper into underlying issues for more efficient and effective decision-making, according to Warner B. Wims, President of WBW&Associates. Using a professional facilitator will generate considerably more relevant and valid data than asking a member of the group to serve as the meeting moderator (or referee). Facilitators are skilled at helping groups to prioritize, ensuring that key outcomes are achieved in the time available. They also help balance the discussion styles of group members, ensuring that different ways of participating produce an outcome that considers the widest possible array of viewpoints. Professional facilitators also:
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| How Should a Board Select a CEO? Selecting a CEO is the most important responsibility of a Board of Directors. Based on our experience working with clients of many kinds, here are the key considerations that should guide a CEO search: The primary objective should be to conduct a thoughtful and objective process that gives candidates and Board members a fair and full opportunity for review. The focus on the process should be the future competency requirements of the position (see the Organization Assessment section of Articles and Presentations for an explanation of competencies). Therefore, the Board must work at gaining a common understanding of the organization’s future requirements. Before expected competency requirements are identified and candidates are considered, the Board needs to consider and reach a consensus on issues such as:
Agreeing on required competencies and reaching consensus on key issues is crucial to gaining a common understanding among board members — don’t assume it will happen! — so that when actual candidates are considered, Board members can be consistent in their assessment. The competencies that are developed should serve as the basis for the Board’s interview questions and for any diagnostic instruments (such as 360 degree assessments) used to help evaluate internal candidates. The process should be instituted as far in advance as possible. Two years in advance of the need-to-hire date is an ideal timeframe. A long lead time is especially important if there are internal candidates who may need time to demonstrate their readiness to the Board. This may also represent the minimum time needed to prepare backups for internal candidates who may be chosen, or to prepare for the impact on individuals not chosen (e.g., if a contender not chosen for the CEO position decides to leave the organization). The respective roles in the selection process, including the Board’s responsibility and the current CEO’s responsibility, should be made clear. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succession Process Roles Board of Directors
Current CEO
Candidates
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Also see the following articles from SUCCESS STRATEGIES, the WBW & Associates, LLC. newsletter: “Board Management Relations” Spring 2002 “Selecting a CEO: What Boards Must Do” Winter 2001 “How Should a Board Select a CEO?” Winter 2001 |