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What should you do when trust has been damaged between you and other board members? Is there a way to recover? Are there differences in how men and women cultivate influence? What adjustments are needed if the board meeting is virtual? And what ethical considerations crop up when it comes to influence between meetings?
We left some of these questions unanswered in last weekâs edition of The Savvy Director, âCultivating Your Influence in the Boardroom.â No worries - weâll get caught up now wit...
Having influence in the boardroom gives you the ability to change hearts, minds, and behavior. Itâs about using your words to share an idea or to move other people toward a position that you support. Make no mistake, being able to influence people is a difficult challenge that all leaders face.
And, as a member of a board of directors, you are one of those leaders.
In this context, weâre talking about the ability to influence your peers around the board table. If youâre new to the board, you...
As a board director, youâre probably familiar with the principles of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). ESG has become increasingly important in the world, and at home, as organizations strive to align their values and practices with those of their stakeholders. Over the last while, ESG has evolved into the longer view of sustainability. It's important to understand what this evolution means for your company or non-profit.
âSustainabilityâ means meeting the needs of the present wi...
If youâve been reading The Savvy Director blog for a while, then you know that, at DirectorPrep, we are obsessed with questions.
One reason for that is because asking questions helps us to fulfill our fiduciary duty as board directors. Through our questions, we inform ourselves about the subject matter at hand and satisfy ourselves about what is in the organizationâs best interests.
Of equal importance, the right questions â asked in the right way at the right time â are a great tool to help...
Whether youâre a seasoned board director or youâre just beginning your governance journey, each time you step into the boardroom youâll encounter an invisible force that influences how decisions are made, how conflicts are resolved, and how the board steers the organization. That invisible force is the boardâs culture.
Board culture is about more than policies and procedures. Itâs about collaboration, mutual respect, and communication. When board culture is positive. it leads to a cohesive an...
How much information is enough for a board to make a decision with impact?
The best boards can make decisions without perfect information. Waiting for perfect information often results in a missed opportunity. Analysis paralysis is a description applied to the inability to make a timely decision while waiting for more and more data. Iâd like to suggest that itâs just an excuse to procrastinate. (Iâve been there.)
For board directors, the good news is they donât have to make significant decis...
The board governance landscape continues to evolve around us, making the role of internal audit more important than ever. As a board director, whether the organization you serve is a large for-profit corporation or a local non-profit, internal auditâs insight and assurance is an indispensable resource to help you fulfill your role.
Essentially, internal audit serves as the boardâs eyes and ears. It answers the key oversight question, âHow do we know?â by providing an independent, objective as...
Many of the problems that boards are faced with involve decision making under uncertainty. Rarely do we have the kind of perfect information that would allow us to predict with complete confidence what the outcome of our decision will be. Most of the time, itâs impossible to know that the facts weâre relying on are 100% certain.
To help decision makers reduce the uncertainty of the information at hand, business schools teach graduate courses on assigning probabilities to decision factors and ...
As I write this week from the northern hemisphere, the fall season is on its way. That means the start of a new governance year for many of us â including new board members whoâve just been recruited and appointed to a board of directors.
Whether youâre a wily veteran or a newcomer to board work, your first board meeting with a new board is a crucial opportunity to establish your credibility and build relationships with fellow directors.
âWhat will the first board meeting be like? Should I...
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