Board Members as Drivers of Change

The Visionary Leaders Shaping Tomorrow’s Organizations

In the world of boards, the members should be drivers of change. They should hold themselves responsible for growth and value creation.? As my partner and ABA Founder Bob says: “golf clubs have members, boards should have leaders.”?

We'll explore some essential traits of a great board member, compare reactive and proactive leadership styles, and discuss the importance of storytelling in boardrooms.?

Main Characteristics of a High Impact Board Leader

High Impact?Board Leaders are not just moderately involved participants, they are architects of change and influencers who create value, drive growth and shape the future of organizations.

Board Leaders don't just participate, they lead. They go beyond oversight and compliance to? advise, influence, motivate, and steer the organization towards meaningful impact. Board Leaders don't just attend meetings, they engage, anticipate needs,? prepare and create value before, during and after meetings.

• Proactive Engagement: Board Leaders actively engage and motivate, considering how they can help.?
• Future Orientation: Board Leaders focus primarily on the future of the organization, considering the past insofar as it affects the future or teaches useful lessons.
• Value Creation: Board Leaders understand the purpose of each meeting and each topic and think about how to create value beforehand.?
• Preparedness: Board leaders study documentation and anticipate the team's needs, looking for angles for additional value or blindsides, and considering what questions will broaden thinking about the issue at hand.?

Preparing to Challenge and Collaborate

Challenging ideas isn't about confrontation, it's a pathway to collaboration. Board leaders are prepared to challenge and be challenged, to change their minds and those of others. They also understand that challenging isn’t their right or their main purpose. It’s a means for value creation. They engage in conversations, not interrogations, creating an environment of trust where mistakes are stepping stones to success. Powerful questions and relatable stories become tools to build trust and make a lasting impact.? Board Leaders necessarily leave their egos outside the boardroom.

Storytelling is Gold

No one likes to be told what to do. Least of all people with big egos. And let’s admit it, there are a good number of big egos in a C-Suite and a board.? Understanding that context,? board leaders understand the power that stories have as a means of transmitting knowledge. Most of us remember well the stories that we were told by parents and grandparents and the lessons they contained.? Board Leaders share experiences that resonate, getting their point across while fostering transparency and openness. They know that a powerful story focuses attention and provokes further thought. It also builds the Board Leader’s leadership in the boardroom and they prove their understanding of an issue is the result of practice, not theory.?

High-Impact Questions

Questions pack a much bigger punch than answers. The wrong question can raise defenses, making further communication difficult and contentious. Board leaders know the art of crafting questions that challenge ideas without generating defensiveness.? They aim to drive action, not find out who is guilty or what they did wrong,? creating an environment where discussions are more likely to lead to tangible outcomes. In crafting effective questions, Board Leaders put themselves in the place of their interlocutor, trying to understand or provoke deeper consideration of an issue.?

High Impact Board Leaders consider each topic on the board’s agenda and prepare? questions they will ask to ensure or confirm their understanding of an issue and what questions they will use to probe, to consider alternatives, to surface unintended effects, to provoke brainstorming, exploration of new alternatives and to subtly communicate opinion without provoking defensiveness.? Board Leaders will stay away from interrogatory questions such as “why” wherever possible.?

Listening and Non-Verbal Skills

Board Leaders know that asking a good question is only half the work.? It is also essential to listen attentively and truly understand the answer.? We’ve all heard a question answered with a “yes, but” that means “no”. Board Leaders also know that sometimes it’s difficult to change one’s mind on the spot, so they will be willing to take what sounds like a tepid answer, as long as it leads to further action or exploration of the issue.??

How questions are asked and how answers are read are not only - or not even mostly - based on the actual “text” of the message.? Nonverbal skills are paramount in delivering and receiving impactful messages. Board Leaders are conscious of Mehrabian's 7/38/55 rule, developed by Albert Mehraiban at UCLA is a well-known concept in communication theory, often used to describe the relative impact of words, tone of voice, and body language when conveying feelings and attitudes: 7% words, 38% tone, and 55% facial/body language. They will therefore be very conscious of their body language when they are speaking and very attentive to that of the responder in order to fully understand.?

Three Critical Steps for Board Leadership

Preparing for a meeting isn't about having the correct answers; it's about asking the right questions. Board leaders commit to influencing, asking high-impact questions, and ensuring their role goes beyond oversight to creating lasting value.?

The goal is clear – influence, drive action, and create lasting value.

The perfect board member isn't elusive; they're a visionary leader shaping the narrative of success.