Board members require ambidexterity. In an increasingly shifting regulatory landscape and evolving business environment, the mandate of a director has shifted from pure strategic oversight to one that shapes strategy, steers the organization, and prepares it for scenarios that could put its sustainability and long-term success in jeopardy.
Boards need to be agile, resilient, and future-proof, and finding the right board members to fill the seats can be tricky. On one hand, they must possess technical competency, expertise, and experience, and on the other, bring integrity, dedication, and authenticity to the role.
In this article, applying learnings from my work with sovereign wealth funds, large corporations, non-profit organizations, families, and institutional investors, as well as insights from my High Performance Boards book, I present a résumé for board success. I list the key behaviors, values, skills, and experience required to successfully sit in a board role to serve as a guide for aspiring board members and a hiring template for the boards that need them the most.
Responsibility
Along with their power, board members must accept and embrace their responsibility toward the company they serve. This requires having total clarity regarding their role and the conscientiousness to perform it to the fullest. Directors need to acknowledge that the board has a duty to oversee the organization’s success and supervise risks that could impact the organization, its employees and their families, customers, and society, often into the next generation.
Accountability and moral authority
Board members must be prepared to explain and justify decisions that have been taken and be answerable to the company’s stakeholders. Being a board director also requires moral authority – the adherence to a set of principles founded on a correct course of action.
One voice principle
While diverse opinions and constructive dissent need to be heard in the boardroom, it is essential that directors embrace the ‘one-voice principle’ once a decision has been taken. In other words, they must fully respect the decision and support it within the confines of and outside the boardroom. This voice is usually expressed by the chair.
Independence and integrity
Integrity is a keystone of successful directorship. For some, this means adopting the values one believes are right. This requires authentic deliberation about individual values through deep personal reflection.
Maintaining integrity means being able to resist engaging in self-deception about whether individual actions are the logical outcome of personal values or psychological needs. Another definition of integrity is the ability to be clear about the boundaries of what is acceptable, and the commitment to stand by these regardless of the consequences.
There is also a social dimension to integrity. It means not only standing up for what you believe and defending it but recognizing that others have their own judgments and convictions. Bullying and coercion are, therefore, antithetical to integrity, whereas compromise and ambivalence might not be.
Equal participation and mutual respect
Board members need to contribute to the best of their ability in the boardroom while also actively listening to others’ contributions and respecting their opinions, even when they differ considerably from their own. This requires a level of emotional quotient that allows the director to see and understand the perspective of others, regardless of whether they agree with the viewpoint. Diversity of perspective is a vital characteristic of high-performing boards, as is the ability to discuss them respectfully.
Openness and constructive dissent
Successful directors are not afraid to express unpopular opinions and can do so without fear of being perceived differently by other directors. They can confidently, positively, and respectfully land sharp remarks and challenge others’ perspectives and underlying assumptions. This requires a lack of convention and social conformity, and a sound evaluation of issues and discussions at hand.
Critical thinking and framing
In an age of overinformation and propaganda, directors must ensure that they are not falling prey to their own biases and ensure that the decisions or assumptions they reach are presented in relative and absolute terms, having considered the environment in which they are reached, and what actors are involved.
Knowledge acceleration
Learning is an evolutionary process. The brightest boards are led by directors who actively educate themselves to better contribute to the board, seek feedback around their knowledge and competency, and fill in the necessary gaps. They also understand that learning is not one-dimensional and just as important as formal education, grasping corporate governance codes, and pertinent regulations is regularly meeting with other directors and executives, beyond board meetings.
Test your effectiveness as a board member.
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It is this reimagining of board diversity that distinguishes high-performing boards from the rest.
While the term ‘diversity’ may prompt our minds to revisit conversations around hiring and retaining talent across a variety of ages, genders, abilities, and backgrounds, what is critical in today’s business climate is that boards comprise diverse expertise to include voices and skill sets across geopolitics, climate change, ethics, and emerging technology. It is this reimagining of board diversity that distinguishes high-performing boards from the rest. These are the traditional board competencies held by successful directors around the world.
A critical exercise for hiring boards and aspiring board members is to rate yourself or a potential candidate from one to 10, with 10 representing full expertise and seven representing proficiency (see Figure 1).
The board skills map provides a simple tool with which to assess the knowledge level and personal attributes of your directors, or your own capabilities, across various board critical dimensions. Administering it will offer an overview of your board’s and your own competency, personality, and attribute gaps.
The sample skills map example illustrated here (see Figures 2-6 below) was established for a nonprofit sporting organization that specializes in the fight against doping, but the personal attributes can be used across all organizations. A skills map must always be adapted to the characteristics of the organization.
Board members must spend enough time keeping up to date on relevant issues and preparing for meetings, including through conversations with fellow directors.
The most effective board members are more than simply competent and conscientious; they are individuals with genuine passion, energy, and dedication who are not motivated solely by the financial or social rewards of board membership.
Board members must spend enough time keeping up to date on relevant issues and preparing for meetings, including through conversations with fellow directors. The board’s composition needs constant adjustment by understanding members’ weaknesses and addressing them through education and other means. A smart board will seek a strong, dynamic focus on the right issues and will set a yearly agenda that prioritizes and caters to these. Alongside people, the highest-performing boards concentrate on sourcing and analyzing information, implementing systems and processes, and maintaining a positive board culture.
For more best practices on building the ideal director’s résumé, order your copy of the High Performance Boards book.
Figures 2-6
Figure 2: Board skills map – Sector experience and knowledge
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