The post pandemic board - a new collaborative endeavour PR File - Flipbook - Page 11
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The post pandemic board: a new collaborative endeavour
Sound judgement isn’t
the same thing as
academic brilliance.
“It was oddly democratising to see everyone
suddenly the same size on the screen.”
Participants were successful in making, collectively,
the argument both for and against remote working.
Perhaps the starting point has been “do we add
value by being together? If not then we are
costing ourselves time”. Participants were in broad
agreement that there are advantages to meeting
face to face, but that does not mean all board events
need to be held in person.
For some, the remote option has revolutionised their
board and level of participation and engagement, as
well as their own personal experience. For others,
“I get more people there remotely but with poorer
ability to tackle complex issues; so, productivity has
massively improved but are the outcomes so good?”
Meeting personally is still seen as an important
part of preserving the fabric and culture of a strong
Board. Some feel that the challenge of a largely
invisible board during the pandemic period was in
fact quite damaging to their organisations, eroding
the sense of security and confidence of executive
leaders at a time they most needed support. These
chairs have sought to re-establish the presence of
their boards quickly.
The role of chairing an organisation is seen as
one that requires visibility, as well as sensitivity
towards and understanding of the broader colleague
base, which can sometimes only be demonstrated
in person. “I like to be in the offices; wandering
about; having 1:1s – and just showing my face.
It’s disconcerting walking into HQ – there’s
tumbleweed... What’s that like for new joiners?
How do we engender that sense of ‘this is how
we do things around here?’ And we run the risk of
creating a real ‘them and us’ situation when our HQ
colleagues are all at home, and front line colleagues
are all required to be working at a place. Our front
line needs to feel equity in the system.”
Remote working may also better suit people who
had already built relationships pre-Covid; it is harder
for chairs to onboard people who haven’t yet had
the opportunity to make those connections outside
of a formal setting. There are still boards at time of
writing whose newer board members have yet to
meet colleagues in person for the first time.
To make meetings more accessible and inclusive,
boards that have preferred to meet in person have
changed practices in other ways. For example, they
are holding meetings in different locations around
the country, or they are beginning their board
meeting with a virtual presentation or story from a
staff member or client.
Others are insisting on being in a room together
for matters relevant to policy and strategy, or in
the case of partner-provider collaboratives for
key relationship or service meetings, otherwise
they are holding information exchange and more
transactional discussions remotely. Some chairs also
prefer to chair physically in a room; one participant
said they missed “the sort of self-censoring that
goes on when you’ve got people by you – and which
gets lost when you’re in this little bubble on the
screen.”