The CBSO recently celebrated their 100th anniversary, charismatically conducted as ever by Sir Simon Rattle. This was no ordinary orchestration, with every detail of a performance during COVID reimagined and staged to give an excellent spectacle despite the current constraints we find ourselves under. I tend to cross reference whatever's on my mind to business and I reflected on board performance and the orchestration by the chair during these times. My observation is that, on the whole, boards have coped admirably with the pressure and distortion that circumstances have presented them with. Boards are witnessing tidal liquidity swings, supply chain strains, new wellbeing considerations, yet new opportunity has emerged with digital enabling and so on and so forth.
All this time we are spending an extortionate amount of effort, as boards, analysing executive performance. New numbers, old comparatives, reports, infographics, dashboards and analytics. Yet how many of us on boards have spent sufficient time introspectively, skillfully assessing our own dynamics and effectiveness and whether we are effective in our challenge and support of our executive teams?
Before COVID a large proportion of boards had run the way they always had. A few tweaks here and there. Diversity and inclusion rising on the agenda, but largely little innovation and no plan for evaluation. Unfortunately board purpose and governance is little understood by a large proportion of directors. Imagine if one of our CEOs had told us that she was going to run the business the same way for the next 10 years. Imagine if the Strategy Director said that the business had no 5-10 year strategy for itself. I'm not sure about you, but I'd be looking long and hard at a restructure of my executive.
What lessons can we learn from each other to enable our boards to become more agile, dynamic and effective? I choose those words carefully because some boards aren't as self aware, yet they ask this of their executive.
Pass me the baton: effective orchestration
Boards need to adapt to their environment in any case. COVID-19 is just one example, but a stark one nevertheless. Here are 10 considerations that chairs can adopt to ensure their boards become an effective part of the solution during COVID and not create more problems for their executive.
Role of the chair - the pivotal role in holding up the candle for the board and keeping the executive true and on mission. Never will the CEO need the chair as a 'critical friend' more than now. Challenge and support in equal measure, moderating a healthy tension. Outside of meetings the chair should continue to check in with their NEDs, maintaining those watercooler conversations. Is everyone still engaged and focused? What isn't being said at the board table? Are some voices not being heard in virtual board meetings? Is vital body and eye language being missed? It's this more fluid orchestration that is necessary.
Agility doesn't mean fragility - The pace of business has accelerated immeasurably. There is an ever growing need for numbers, KPIs and scenario planning on a more frequent basis. The business may need to make decisions more quickly and delegated authorities may need to be amended for interim measures. However, moving at pace and 'getting stuff done quickly' does not excuse lack of control and dropping balls elsewhere. In an agile context it's an 'and-and'. You move at pace and you keep score at the same time. And 'we're too busy, we just needed to get on with it' doesn't cut it.
Don't overload the circuit - be wary of asking for more, more, more. Recalibrate. Be crisp and clear in your information needs and requests. Tell the executive what they can drop. It's good housekeeping to review whether any matters can be delayed or are less critical and can be reported less frequently. Also consider whether the reporting is critical or is the board at risk of micro-managing? Ramp down again when you feel you can.
Interim committee war rooms - This is the time to use your committees as war rooms with NEDs focused on critical matters. Workload has escalated understandably with the increased risk profile of the last few months. What are the most important items that you need committees to keep tabs on? Review critical attendance and content. Be clear about accountability on both the NED and executive side. You may need the CFO in attendance at more committees to give swift financial surity and risk appraisal. Committees or subject matter may need combining for maximum effect. For example when reviewing the impact of staffing in Nominations, follow it through and review risk and financial impact, rather than wasting a repeated discussion at Audit & Risk as well. Delegate clear accountability for some items that require more diligent and frequent review to these war rooms.
Push for efficiency in board reporting - Challenge the executive to use technology, seek brevity and ask for critical reporting by exception. If certain members of the executive or their teams need advice or training in their style assign someone to coach them or bring in an external to assist.
Planning for that wave - There's some good practice going around where, when I've spoken to board members about the impact of the second wave of COVID, they've already scenario planned this and have executable plans ready to adopt.
Investing in people and technology - Don't drop the ball in your Nominations and Investment committees. Those businesses that have always come well out of recession continued to develop the skills in their people that were a) lacking during that period, e.g. resilience, scenario planning, trust and b) needed for recovery and growth. Productivity gains are key to step change recovery, making digital transformation a key element of board strategy.
Don't blur the lines - Far too often I see well intending board members crossing the line and carrying out executive tasks. It's so tempting and you want to help your CEO's team. However, be careful, in your role on the board. Don't risk your independence. You need to enable the executive and not do their homework for them.
A grip on your comms - In a previous article I talked about the importance of managing your messaging and reputation during the COVID crisis. Many organisations locked down communications with media, suppliers et al as shock set in. It was a PR disaster for some and I'm sure you can all point to more public ones. As the chair, agree with your executive how to best manage reputational opportunity and risk in equal measure. Some stakeholders will benefit directly from the probity of the chair.
Eat, sleep, rave, repeat - Board effectiveness, board dynamism, board agility and board performance should continuously be calibrated as you would your executive and business model to fit your economic context. This should be the boards 'new norm'.
I will be writing more on sharpening board potency in future articles, but if there is anything specifically you would like me to expand on or explore please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
#board #chair #CEO #NED #boardeffectiveness #digitaltransformation #wellbeing #people #development #covid19 #lockdown #recovery #covidrecovery #leadership #bounceback #innovation #CBSO #CBSO100
Comments