Four Board Culture Red Flags

Billy Connolly (Scottish Comedian) once described parliament as “a beautiful building where great ideas go in, then get bashed about by a few and then emerge a shadow of their former self and of no use to man (actually bugger) or beast”.

How would you describe your boardroom?

A boardroom by its very nature should be a space that is conducive to open, honest and robust discussion and debate. It’s therefore not unusual to have some tension or uneasiness when discussions are of a particularly sensitive or serious nature.

A lack of candour caused by a poor board culture will result in less than optimal decisions and outcomes – and that should never be OK!

If culture (in an organisational context) is commonly defined as “the way we do things around here”, then how do you create a great board culture? Culture always flows top-down, so ultimately, creating a great board culture is the role and responsibility of the chair of the board.

During my many years serving on numerous boards, I have seen four potentially detrimental red flags rear their heads. I’ve also learnt how to turn them around though. Let’s look at each of them.

Lack of Preparation

How often have you noticed a board member comment in a meeting that makes it blatantly obvious that they haven’t read the pack? That is not only embarrassing; it is also an indication of how seriously this person takes their role as a board member.

Board members who are poorly prepared for a board meeting are not able to contribute constructively to the discussion. Simple. A common reason for this is that board packs are circulated late or that board members simply do not apply themselves when reading the board pack before the meeting.

Overcome this by:

• Circulating the board pack at least five days before the meeting.
• Insisting that independent board members meet prior to the board meeting – this ensures alignment, creates the opportunity to share perspectives and also clarifies what questions to ask that will enhance the boardroom discussion and decision making.
• Establishing a robust board process that ensures information is circulated and communicated timeously.

Lack of Focus

If everyone is not focused, it leads to going round in circles without decisions being made. There are several causes:

• Poor time and agenda management on the part of the chair.
• Matters being discussed are simply too operational, and non-executives and independent directors have insufficient insight to participate.
• Even worse: Board members are catching up on their emails during the meeting.

Overcome this by:

• Appointing a strong chairman who has the ability to re-focus board members and manage strong personalities.
• Building a comprehensive agenda with timings which are strictly adhered to.
• Leveraging pre-board meetings, as previously mentioned.

Dismissiveness

Whether arrogance or insolence, simply dismissing another person’s point of view is insulting and rude. I have seen how it gets people’s backs up and how it leads to people “checking out”.

Manage this by conducting a personality profiler for all board members to ascertain their ways of thinking and working. With this insight, all board members will be able to recognise and understand how the other thinks and how to best approach them for the desired results.

We find this such a critical component of success at Sirdar that we developed a profiling tool called Contribution Compass . It is directly aligned with our methodology for best governance practice and provides a deeper understanding of each individual around the boardroom table, as well as the entire board as a team. This insight is invaluable as it:

• Casts light on how decisions are made and what fuels them.
• Indicates where an imbalance of natural energies (areas of maximum contribution) exists (e.g. too many thinkers and not enough do-ers).
• Supports appointing the most suitable next board member to restore balance.

Disrespect

Although tightly linked to dismissiveness, this can have a weightier response, impact and result.

Overcome it by ensuring that all board members:

• Are educated in terms of the roles of those around the boardroom table as well as director duties. Director education is actually a requirement in many countries.
• Have a historical view of the board and the business so that everyone understands the roots on which everything was built and why some things are the way that they are. This can be achieved by studying old annual reports as well as previous board meeting minutes.

By having all board members take a step back, set aside egos, and make themselves vulnerable enough to learn – about governance fundamentals, institutional history and each other – the business will already be well on its way to improved performance.