The post pandemic board - a new collaborative endeavour PR File - Flipbook - Page 20
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The post pandemic board: a new collaborative endeavour
“These days you have to expect the unexpected;
volatility and ambiguity. Whatever you agree,
be prepared to give three or four times what it
says.”
A chair signs up to the role, not the time
commitment: they are switched on 365 days a year.
While this has always been the case, the pattern of
time spent by chairs in their roles is changing. As
previously referenced in this report, we know that
many people who hold chair roles are now spending
a significantly higher proportion of time on board
related issues in between set piece meetings, and a
much lower proportion at or on the edges of those
meetings.
The pressures on many boards are intense, yet
the engagement of board members is inevitably
more sporadic. This means that chairs are having
to find new ways to manage the inevitable dips in
engagement and understanding that occur between
routine board events.
They are keeping the lines of communication with
their board members open between meetings
by sending briefing notes, and changing the way
they chair meetings – for example, recognising
that sometimes they have to take the discission
backwards before they can move forwards again.
However, most important of all is a new level of
investment on the part of chairs in getting to know
and understand their board members, both to ensure
the board can function properly, but also to use
relationship and insight in their management of more
frequently highly charged issues. Some are regularly
meeting face to face with individual board members,
using the insights they gain to shape the agenda and
approach.
Chairs are also ensuring that individual board
members are familiar with, and immersed in, the
organisation in order to fully understand it, be able to
anticipate the risks and opportunities from all angles
and make a relevant and up to date contribution.
Some made the observation that boards have
historically not been good at challenge, that they
have “either been too soft or too much the other
way”.
In the current environment the balance needs to
be just right. Working more closely with individual
board members while building the conditions
in which trust and mutual respect can thrive
ensures that levels of challenge are more likely
to be appropriate to the overall atmosphere of the
discussion.