The Savvy Director Blog

“Governance stories in the news tend to focus on conflict, crisis, and failure – shedding light on goings-on and machinations that were not meant to be in the public eye. However disturbing, these...

In last week’s Savvy Director post, I wrote about healthy tension among board members, and the need to prevent it from deteriorating into disruptive conflicts, or resolving the conflicts quickly if they do arise.

But there’s a certain kind of conflict that arises in the boardroom that I didn’t address – one that requires finesse and sensitivity to manage. I’m referring to conflict between the CEO (often called the Executive Director in the non-profit world) and the board.

The relationship be...

Even good questions can create resistance if asked poorly. This article shows how to reduce defensiveness and improve boardroom communication.

Ever heard that one before? 

Thankfully it happens much less these days.  But it took an experienced director to pull me aside after a board meeting one time to help see the light. 

Body language, tone of voice, choosing your words with care, and simply waiting for the right time to jump into the discussion have all made a huge difference in my abili...

Relax!  Having a conflict of interest with respect to something on the board’s agenda need not interfere with your ability to function as a high quality board director.  It’s okay to have them.  It doesn’t make you a bad person or ineffective board member.  The real issue is whether your board has a good process/policy/practice to manage and mitigate any actual or potential conflicts.

What is a Conflict of Interest? 

Let’s get the definition out of the way.

A conflict of interest is a situ...

Boards must do more than set strategy, they must track results. This article shows how to ensure accountability and follow-through.

Someone on LinkedIn said, “Good governance is like keeping the train on track.” I like that analogy as it runs parallel to the description of the CEO who ‘keeps the trains running on time.’

You need both ─ good direction and good execution.

You also need the third phase of the board’s work – monitoring progress.

It may have been John and Miriam Carver who desc...

This blog explains the fundamentals of risk and the board’s role in overseeing it. It outlines how directors can identify, assess, and respond to risks to support effective decision-making.

How should a board of directors be spending its time and energy? When I serve on boards, I make sure there is plenty of room on our agendas to regularly spend time on four key topics: finance, people, strategy, and risk. I refer to these collectively as The Savvy Director’s Focus.

Board directors don’t ...

This blog explains why stakeholder engagement is essential for effective governance. It shows how boards can identify, prioritize, and understand stakeholder perspectives.

Stakeholders are persons or groups with an interest in an organization who can affect or be affected by its decisions and activities. Given what’s happening in our world, it should be no surprise that the idea that organizations should be accountable to a broad base of stakeholders has gained traction, pushing the topic of ...

In a time of rapid change, it’s vital for boards to ensure they have a vibrant team with the right mix of knowledge and skills to keep moving the organization forward.

But many boards find they don’t have the right processes in place to keep their membership fresh and relevant. And boards can find that their quest for renewal is blocked by a shortage of vacant seats, as sometimes directors stay on the board for a very long time.

When is long board tenure too long? What can boards do to encou...

Boardroom dynamics are shaped by personality. This article explains how introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts can improve contribution and decision quality.

There are days when it’s just not obvious what the subject of the next weekly Savvy Director blog should be. So, we happily welcome reader suggestions.

A couple of weeks ago, Jim sent an email with a link to an article from The Globe and Mail, ‘Introverts, time to add some extrovert skills into your repertoire.’ The gist of the article i...

A board of directors is often faced with making a decision that has ethical dimensions. This is not a new phenomenon – it’s always been this way.

But in our current environment – one that features intense stakeholder scrutiny of governance practices, heightened expectations around organizational activities, and seemingly limitless opportunities to make a ‘wrong’ decision instead of a ‘right’ one – it’s more important than ever that boards have access to skills and tools that enable them to ma...