The 7 Traits of Highly Effective Board Members

Reflective practice is a crucial part of good governance as it helps us to learn from mistakes and best practice, to determine the differences between good and poor governance and to help us in the training and development of existing and future board members.

 

More importantly, being aware of how effective you are as a board member helps your board as a collective entity to avoid the scandals and failures that we have seen over the last decade and beyond, across all sectors.

 

In ‘The Little Book of Governance’, the first in ‘The Little Book Series’ that I have created, I highlight that: “In order to maintain standards of good governance, every organisation should be run by effective board members.” Good governance relies on effective board members who execute their duties well.

 

So, what are the ‘7 Traits of Highly Effective Board Members?’

 

Highly Effective Board Members:

1. Reflect on their contribution to the board at each meeting. Contribution is the part played by a person or thing in bringing about a result or helping something to advance.* If you didn’t attend the last board meeting, or you attended but failed to read your board papers, is your contribution helping the board to advance, in fact, are you making a contribution at all? Ensuring board meetings take place in line with the Terms of Reference is a step on the road to good governance, but contribution will be the driving force behind productive and effective board meetings that help achieve the vision and mission of the board and safeguard against failures.

2. Challenge, stretch and guide the executive. An essential part of board behaviour includes appropriate and necessary challenge in order to ensure transparency of board activity. However, in order to avoid board meetings descending into chaos, challenge should always remain professional and DOVE like. I recommend DOVE like execution as part of the governance forum (TGF) Governance Framework. Challenge should/include:

 

D – Decision-making

O – Openness

V – Vision

E – Engage

 

 

3. Reflect on their own development. Reflective practice is defined as follows: “… reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/or practice.” (http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf). By reflecting on their practice, effective board members can begin to examine their board behaviour, contribution and the business of the board to ensure they are effective.

 

4. Bring different perspective/insight by staying up to date with developments in their sector and across the general field of governance. Being aware of policy and regulatory developments will improve contribution to board and committee meetings and to the overall governance of the board. Having current perspective and insight also means encouraging training, development and CPD of board members at all levels so that your board can remain at the forefront of current practice.

 

5. Remain independent. It is difficult for board members to remain independent when they have become stagnant. While commitment in years can be a compliment to the board, demonstrating that the board member believes in the vision of the organisation, it can also cause an erosion of independence and clarity of judgement. Succession planning and the development of a diverse pipeline of talent will ensure greater independence and maintain the integrity of the boards decision-making processes.

 

6. Are custodians of legacy. Effective board members take full stock of the values of the organisation and hold these values dear. They commit to the very heart of the organisation and believe in the vision, wanting to deliver this to the benefit of all stakeholders. Board members who are custodians of the legacy take the time to learn about the vision and mission of the organisation which can then be applied to their professional expertise to execute the duties of the board efficiently.

 

7. Are risk aware. The 2015 UK Summer Budget presented some real challenges for businesses and to organisations in the third sector. Effective board members will be cognisant of how changes in budget, law, or regulation could have an adverse impact on their organisation. They are also aware of any specific risks relating to their fiduciary duty, documentation, inadequate systems or processes, poor relationships between board members or the lack of skills and experience on the board.

 

In summary, as you take the time to reflect on your current, present or future commitment to boards, take stock of the ‘7 Traits of Highly Effective Board Members’ and think about how you and others on your board can apply these to ensure that ‘governance is more than compliance!’

 

Until next time…

 

 For more information about ‘The Little Book Series’, or to purchase ‘The Little Book of Governance’ or the newly published second book in the series ‘Boards Behaving Badly’, please email my team at [email protected].

 *Definition of contribution from Google search engine.