The Savvy Director Blog

Recently, I worked with a board of directors to prepare a list of potential interview questions for prospective board members. The questions were carefully selected to try to uncover candidates’ ‘Three C’s’ – competence, character, and chemistry.

The first two C’s are fairly obvious. Competence questions focus on education, knowledge, skills, and experience. Character questions are meant to reveal the candidate’s integrity and moral courage.

But what is the third ‘C’ – chemistry? And how doe...

When the Board-CEO partnership thrives, so does the entire organization. But when it falters, the repercussions can be swift and severe.

In today's complex and rapidly changing world, boards face the challenging task of providing proper oversight while allowing management the autonomy needed to be effective. This delicate balance is crucial for organizational success. It requires a flexible decision-making partnership between the Board and the CEO.

By understanding and managing the inherent...

“Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.” – Guy Kawasaki, American marketing specialist

When we asked our Savvy Director readers, “What boardroom skills do you want to have help with?” a number of you responded with variations on the themes of how to exercise more patience, how to be more tolerant, and – to be brutally direct – how not to get frustrated with other directors.

I get it. Sometimes, after an unsatisfying board meeting, I’ve thought to myself, “Board work would be ...

One of our duties as board directors is to challenge management. Some directors find it hard to challenge because they don’t want to offend. Others are eager to challenge but end up leaving resentment and hard feelings behind.

How can we find a balance so we can fulfill our duty and yet still maintain a positive relationship with management?

The answer is constructive challenge — the practice of asking questions in board and committee meetings with the purpose of providing scrutiny, putting ...

The working dynamics between board directors, and how they collaborate when making key decisions, is a topic of endless curiosity for me. How do directors strike the right balance between constructive dissent and getting along?

Should directors be a team or behave more like a team? And what can we, as directors, learn from high-performing sports teams?

No matter how many superstars are at the board table, a key driver of success is the ability to build strong working relationships between d...

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 week’s edition of The Savvy Director, ‘Cultivating Your Influence in the Boardroom.’ No worries - we’ll get caught up now wit...

Having influence in the boardroom gives you the ability to change hearts, minds, and behavior. It’s 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, we’re talking about the ability to influence your peers around the board table. If you’re new to the board, you...

Whether you’re a seasoned board director or you’re just beginning your governance journey, each time you step into the boardroom you’ll 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 board’s culture.

Board culture is about more than policies and procedures. It’s about collaboration, mutual respect, and communication. When board culture is positive. it leads to a cohesive an...

Boards make decisions in a variety of ways. Simple majority vote, ranking, scoring, and multiple voting rounds help directors consider options but don’t necessarily get the board to a place of agreement. Consensus decision-making helps a board achieve agreement, even if the decision made is not everyone’s first choice.

Consensus that emerges from discussion involving a diversity of perspectives is a powerful force that tends to lead to good decisions. Once consensus is achieved, directors lea...

“Conflict is inevitable, combat is optional.” – Max Lucado, US author

As a board director, I find there’s nothing like robust boardroom debate to get me really engaged. After all, that’s what we’re there for, isn’t it? To wrestle with big, important issues; to help guide the organizations we care about around dangers and into a bright future; to make sound decisions in the interests of all our stakeholders.

But what about when the debate is not so healthy, when it degenerates into disrup...