Mary wondered why the board was taking so long to make decisions and why the board members couldn’t get along. Peter typically rolled his eyes whenever Joyce spoke. He often criticized her after board meetings because she insisted on working out all the implementation details of board decisions. Joyce focused on making sure management followed the board’s implied direction. She felt it was the board’s job to manage the CEO. John, meanwhile, thought the board’s job was to govern; he trusted management to make management decisions and wanted to be on top of every detail. Tom thought that the board should make all the decisions, even the smallest ones, since the board was responsible to the owners, not the staff.
Angela, the president, thought it was no wonder that the board members didn’t get along. There was no common understanding. She asked the board members what they thought the board’s job was and she received many different answers.
Angela knew that the board members came from diverse backgrounds, but she was surprised by the diversity of expectations, types and depth of problem analysis, decision-making styles, and personalities. These differences led to a malfunctioning board.
He realized that this board, like all boards, had to achieve a common understanding of its role and explore its unique culture of discussion and decision-making before its members could begin to work together as one.
What can you do?
1. Ensure clarity about the purpose of your board and the expectations of board members; then, confront board members when they don’t adhere to the expectations set by the board.
2. Determine how you will work as a board. Are you committed to being a governing board? If you are not yet ready to make the complete change, decide in which areas you will be a labor meeting, in which areas a management meeting and in which areas a governance meeting.
3. Complete a Myers-Briggs or DiSC personality assessment and begin to better understand how your board members gather information and make decisions. This will support the development of respect, trust and open conversation.
4. Spend time defining how your board can most effectively and efficiently make decisions and monitor the organization and its results.
5. Commit to teamwork, respect one another, promote diversity of thought at board meetings, and speak as one after decisions are made.
Connecting takes courage
Arianna suppressed a chill that visibly ran through her body. It was her third board meeting, and a frustrating pattern was conclusively confirmed: the president had a habit of leading substantive issues with his own opinion. The remainder of the board is due duly. There was no robust exploration of the issues. What happened was more of a monologue with applause than a group discussion and decision.
Put yourself in Arianna’s shoes and consider your options:
• Let go. This board was around for a long time before Arianna joined it. Somehow, everything has worked. And the decisions aren’t that bad, anyway.
• Hit him head on. Just because others act like mice doesn’t mean she should. If Arianna is going to be on this board, she better be ready to rock the boat when the boat needs to rock.
• Wait. The President’s term is only one year. In a short time he will be active. Surely everyone will be smart enough not to name it again.
We don’t like either of those options, although each has a kernel of validity.
What can you do?
1. Start building relationships with each board member right away. Find out more about their strengths and interests, and their motivation for being on the board.
2. Inject your learnings into the boardroom discussion. “As we get started on this topic of managing risk for the organization, I can’t help but wonder what Rich is thinking about it. He was vice president of risk management for the bank before he retired.” Or, “Just last week I was visiting Rebecca and was impressed with her HR credentials. What suggestions do you have regarding the review of our CEO, Rebecca?”
3. Politely intervene in board meetings to prevent a decision from being concluded before proper expression and commitment. “Stan, you’ve made some important points, but before I go any further, I’d like to know what Susan thinks about this, especially the potential impact this may have on our customers’ trust in our organization.”
4. Play the “newbie” card to spark more connection. “I realize I’m very new to this board and don’t know everyone as well as you should. Sometimes I worry that I’m missing important perspectives because I’m not up to date on each board member’s background and experiences. Could we set aside 30-40 minutes to share about this at our next meeting? If you expect the chair to brush this off, it may be best to have this one-on-one conversation with the chair or another board member who can champion the idea for you.
5. Stay constructive, not judgmental. The vast majority of people are trying to make a positive contribution to the boards they serve. The more we learn about their motivations and desires, the better we can help them contribute in ways that add value to the organization.
Some people consider “hooking up” to be a soft thing around boardroom tables. The reality is that these mushy things can be hard to do. And when we make it work, everything else becomes easier.