A Winning Board: What boards Want from their CEO
Do you sit on a Board of Directors? Lead one? Work with one? Then tune in every Thursday morning from now until the end of the month to learn all about how to create, operate and work with a winning board. From roles and responsibilities to best practices and leadership tips, AG shares over 50 years of his experience with you.
I’ve served on a number of boards — small, medium and large, public and private, for-profit and nonprofit. So, I think I have a pretty good idea of what CEOs would like to see from their boards. In turn, I also have a pretty good idea of what boards and directors would like to see from their CEO and management teams.
Here are five important expectations the board has for their CEOs:
1. Be a Leader
Lead. Take the initiative. If you want your board to be a strategic advisory group, then you have to be clear about your expectations of them. You must share your business strategy clearly and openly, and bring up the questions you’re wrestling with so that they can provide you with advice and counsel.
2. Be Transparent
Be open and transparent with your board. Transparency builds trust. Boards expect CEOs to be forthcoming and open about the problems or challenges they’re trying to solve and questions the CEO needs input on.
3. Encourage Collaboration
Facilitate dialogue with directors inside and outside the board room. Successful CEOs encourage participation and open discussion at board and committee meetings. They understand the importance of getting as much relevant information, ideas and options on the table as possible. They understand that, ultimately, this additional information results in better, more thoughtful conclusions or decisions. Successful CEOs also understand that there’s a lot of important work that happens outside of the board meeting - whether before the meeting, after the meeting, or sometime in-between. Having ongoing conversations between directors — especially in areas where they have significant capability and experience — enhances the quality of interactions, supplements formal meetings, builds momentum and confidence, and overall, results in better outcomes and a more effective board-management process.
4. Provide Important Information
Strong CEOs prepare and provide information that is relevant, understandable and helpful in focusing directors on the subject, question or issue under consideration. Too much or too little information can be problematic. Frame the issue clearly, only share the data and information that’s most important, and describe the pros, cons and risks of the various identified options. This is the kind of input that leads to constructive dialogue, better decisions and ultimately increases the odds of delivering better results.
5. Maintain a Productive Environment
Work to keep the board operating efficiently. One way to do this is by ensuring that a lot of work gets done in committee meetings. Well structured, staffed, organized and chaired committees can effectively handle the brunt of a board’s work. This enables the actual board meeting, with all the directors and the CEO present, to focus on broad company strategy, leadership, M&A and similar opportunities that benefit most from the in-depth deliberation of all of the directors.
It takes two to tango. It takes strong CEO leadership, a strong board and a real partnership between the chairman and the CEO. There should be open and transparent collaboration, ongoing dialogue, and strong director and management commitment. It is important that the CEO is dedicated to building a constructive and productive working relationship built on mutual respect and mutual trust.
