Developing Griffin Style Leadership for High Performing Boards

While this may be the case, board behaviour is a difficult factor to manage, measure and monitor yet it continues to have a huge impact on the effectiveness of boards across all sectors. Some of you may be familiar with my TGF Zoo which is home to 12 animals whose behaviour and characteristics are directly attributable to human behaviours seen in the boardroom.

The Zoo is currently home to a monkey, a sheep, a peacock, a shark, a snail, a rabbit, a dog, a workhorse, a penguin, a beaver, a crab and a bee. I’ll leave it to you to determine where all of these animals fall in relation to my four board dysfunctions (groupthink, conflict, operational and passive) or you can of course refresh your memory by reading my blog published in June 2015 – ‘The EBM Code of Conduct for the Board’ or by purchasing the second book in my ‘Little Book Series – Boards Behaving Badly’ as a refresher.

 

In the TGF Zoo, the animals generally behave badly but they do help us to see the type of behaviour we do not want to encourage or see in the boardroom. Outside of The TGF Zoo there are housed two animals who epitomise good board behaviour, the kind which should be demonstrated by high performing boards. These animals – a lion and an eagle are often both referred to in teaching about leadership and strategy. Both are said to be the king of their respective domains. In this blog, we’ll briefly examine why and how this relates to board behaviour.

 

The lion – powerful king of beasts is known for its killer bite, its hunter instinct and its position as the leader of the pack. Lions are hunters who are willing to fight to lay claim to territory and to defend their pride. The pride is a crucial part of a lion’s survival and is formed of a group of lions, lionesses and cubs that the lion defends whilst lionesses gather food, leading the defence against intruders. Taking small, unobtrusive steps towards their target, lions patiently plan and strategise on the best way to achieve their goal before making their move. They then use their strength to advance on their prey. Whilst the KPIs and other objectives of a company may involve less killer instinct, the lion’s prowess is to be mirrored by boards as part of them remaining strategic. Boards should be protective of the interests of the company they direct and control in the same way a lion protects its territory. They should operate and make decisions collectively just like the pride who stick together to defend their territory and lead the defence against intruders who in the boardroom, could be shifts in the sector that the board miss because they are too busy being operational.

 

Collectively in the boardroom, members should always be on the look out for intruders – whether this be in the form of changes to budgets or regulatory requirements, the board monitoring a robust and thorough risk plan will help them to defend the companies assets, which includes its reputation.

 

Known for its ability to soar high above the ground and see into the distance, the behaviour of an eagle is synonymous with the strategic capacity all boards should have to promote the long-term success of the company and to foresee any risks as they become apparent. They are fearless, tenacious high fliers who test before trusting others. Strategic boards can learn much from the behaviour of an eagle. They should always be looking below at the terrain to identify threats, ensuring its assets are protected high above where any ‘predators’ can reach them and test before trusting – whether this is in acquisitions, partnerships or in doing due diligence with new partners. Strategy is a crucial part of how the board in any organisation operates.

 

These behaviours translate to the boardroom in relation to strategic planning that should be undertaken by all organisations which helps them to look ahead and always ensure that activity that the board is undertaking is in line with these objectives. So, how do we translate this concept to action? Earlier I mentioned that it can be difficult to manage, measure and monitor board behaviour given the intricacies of human behaviour. There are however, some steps that can be taken in order to minimise the impact of negative board behaviour which I’ll use the three Ms to describe.

 

1. Manage

The role of the chair is crucial in managing board behaviour. The UKCGC says that: “The chairman is responsible for leadership of the board and ensuring its effectiveness on all aspects of its role.” The chair must be authoritative but not a dictator and must be strong enough to be able to manage disruptive behaviour in the boardroom. The individual in this role must also be adept at recognising subtle behaviours such as joviality which can be good for morale and conducive to keeping what can often be quite heavy meetings light but can also mask incompetence and passivity.

 

2. Measure

External board and committee observations provide the board and the organisation with an independent view of how the board is performing in its meetings. Coupled with this, a review of board papers is a good way to understand how much strategic discussion is taking place and how robust the decision-making is within the meetings. If there are gaps and improvements identified, it is likely that some of this can be attributed to board behaviour – be it positive or negative.

 

3. Monitor

The appraisal process is important when monitoring board behaviour. Section D9 of the NHF Code of Governance used in housing states that: “A full and rigorous appraisal process for the individual members of the board and its committees, including the chairs, must be carried out at least every two years.” 
Appraisal offers the appraiser the opportunity to address any performance issues that may have arisen during the review period and at the following next meeting, a chance to review how negative behaviours or areas for improvement may have been worked upon, taking appropriate steps where necessary to remove an individual from the board. These should also be mirrored for the chair and CEO who all play an important role in the boardroom.

 

In Greek mythology, the griffin is a mystical creature which has the body, tail and back legs of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. When teaching about board behaviour, I use the griffin as the example of what good board behaviour should emulate. The combination of strength, protective instinct, ability to hunt combined with the skill to soar and see below and for miles ahead, making you a difficult target for predators and able to identify threats are all traits which, when applied to the boardroom can improve board effectiveness.

 

I encourage you to take the time to review the behaviour on your board, implement the necessary training and development and introduce the relevant processes to ensure you are operating effectively.

 

For more information on how to be an effective board member, look out for my new book launching in Autumn 2017!

For those of you who want to learn more about governance, boardroom effectiveness and meet all of the TGF Zoo animals, we are recruiting for the Effective Board Member Programmes across all categories. Please visit effectiveboardmember.co.uk today to book your place!

 

Until next time…