But what is the question? The question centres on what makes the best directors (or Executive Committee members).
Research by McKinsey research and published in the Harvard Business Review Online (Read it here) have found that there are no shortcuts to being a very effective director. In fact, the latest trend is for effective directors to be spending just as much time out of meetings engaging with the company on board activities as they do in board meetings.
The article details the various types of engagement with management on the following topics:
- Engaging between meetings;
- Engaging with strategy as it’s forming;
- Engaging on talent;
- Engaging the field;
- Engaging on tough questions.
This concept runs contrary to established thinking of directors keeping their involvement to a minimum, and leaving management “to do its job”. However the research found that directors who took the time to engage had more significant and valuable contributions to make, thus adding value to the board.
One other thing this process enabled was for directors to mix up their roles, and for someone to be assigned each meeting to ask the hard questions of management. Being engaged meant the directors had confidence that they knew enough about the issues and the business to do this, and that management respected this knowledge. It also ensured that the board process was more robust and that all issues were appropriately examined and interrogated.
There are no short cuts to being an effective director and board, and management needs to have a thick skin and engage with directors who are prepared to learn more about the business.
The Avondale Business School can assist your board to become a high performing board – find out how by contacting Warrick Long at the Avondale Business School.
P: 02 4980 2168