Leading chairs of the future excels in four areas
The Chair of the board of directors plays a critical role in an organizations governance and leadership We have researched the important role of Chair of Boards of Directors in Sweden and rest of Europe.
The leading Chairs of the future excels in four areas;
- They effectively engage and lead the board on the issues that matters most– they balance between the controlling focus and guiding for development, they balance the focus on the past and versus the future
- Chair practice tip – Start the board meeting with a question and go around the table. Have they seen something that they believe can affect the company? This has two effects – most board members start to focus more on what could impact the company, and additionally, when everyone has had their say once at the meeting, it will be easier for them to speak up the next time.
- They effectively engage the board for effective impact – one major challenge here is the time pressure, – finding ways to share information also between meetings and create working groups that prepare questions together with management might help
- Chair practice tip – make sure that the more strategic or complex issues that needs to be debated will be placed early on the board agenda, while members still have the energy for the discussion.
- They effectively engage and guide the CEO – creating trust and challenge for innovative thinking and high ambition is important
- Chair practice tip – ask the CEO to add one or two questions to the most important agenda items, it gives the board time to prepare and makes all participants get on the same page and better solve challenges
- They effectively engage with prioritised stakeholders – they listen to owners, employees, partners and even customers.
- Chair practice tip – regularly invite customers to the board meeting and ask them to share their vision for the future.
For Swedish readers, you can listen to me sharing the Chair tips in the excellent Orförandekalendern – a video advent calendar in Swedish arranged by Chair Petra Palmgren Lindwall
You are also welcome to read a deep dive on the topic in a guest blogpost that I recently shared at the the BoardClic blog. Boardclic provides Chairs with a necessary tool, a modern way of continously evaluate and improve the boards focus and performance
This blog post was originally shared at the blog of Digoshen www.digoshen.com, and the blog of the Digoshen founder www.liselotteengstam.com
At Digoshen, we work hard to increase #futureinsights and help remove #digitalblindspots and #sustainabilityblindspots. We believe that Companies, Boards, and Business Leadership Teams need to understand more about the future and the digital & sustainable world to fully leverage the potential when bringing their business into the digital & more sustainable age. If you are a board member, consider joining our international board network and master programs.
To understand where you and your company stand in digital business and leadership progress, take our survey at Digoshen.com/research and get a free-of-charge personalized report with recommendations on moving forward. The survey is anonymous and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
You will find more insights via Digoshen Website, and you are welcome to follow us on LinkedIn Digoshen @ Linkedin and twitter: @digoshen and founder @liseeng