How Boards are guiding their organizations through uncertainty

The role of a board, at its core, is to help steer its organization toward a prosperous future. Thus, as the pandemic has erupted a plethora of challenges that put that future at stake—from liquidity to safety, operations, and litigation—boards have become increasingly involved. 

In March, this meant triage. Organizations and boards were focused on how to keep everything running, from supply chains to people working from home. Come April, they moved into modeling to pave the way for strategic discussions. And now we find ourselves in May, where businesses are re-allocating resources based on what they’ve decided to do strategically—though their situations vary greatly depending on industry, stage, and other factors. Some companies are experiencing a “COVID bump”—with their services in demand, their priority is stepping up to the occasion. Others have managed to stabilize and are asking: What’s next? Companies caught in a fundraising stage are dealing with how to find liquidity. 

As I thought about the women whom I’ve recruited to boards over the past six years, I felt it would be a good time to bring some of them (and others) together to see how they’re facing today's challenges. With the help of my trusted advisor (and super board member herself), Lorrie Norrington, we gathered 15 women Directors on Zoom to reflect on this moment and share their experiences. Though the full conversation was off-the-record, here are some broader takeaways that emerged: 

Boards are more active than ever.

With nervousness and uncertainty in the air, board members are called on for more planned (and unplanned) conversations. Even the most confident CEOs want to communicate more. What was once a quarterly board meeting has become monthly, even weekly, calls. Especially board members who have weathered storms before (e.g., 9/11, 2008 recession) are being looked to for advice.

Avoid isolated thinking.

No matter how much we model future scenarios, no one knows exactly how our organizations will emerge from this crisis. One of the suggestions to mitigate this ambiguity was to form a group of CFOs—exposing them to new ideas and accelerating their organizations’ ability to scenario plan. (I’d add that this gathering itself proved the value of getting outside our own heads and supporting one another.) 

Cash is king.

This is a moment of challenging tensions: short-term vs long-term planning; investment vs saving. Some companies have more cash than they were expecting and are asking: Should we invest or save for a rainy day? One approach shared was to ensure a rolling 24 months of liquidity. This means re-evaluating every month to make sure there’s enough cushion for the next 24. It doesn’t mean you can’t invest if you spot a great opportunity, but make sure you have enough liquidity to “cover your ass” should the worst happen. 

Consider macro trends when investing. 

For companies that do have a strong position on liquidity, some are focused on investing in employees, the community, and social good, while others are looking at how to build forward. For the latter, one recommendation was to look at macro trends and ask: What do I want to take advantage of? These might be areas that this crisis has magnified a need for—for example, if you know you need a self-service solution, that’s probably a good area to look into.

Think up worst case scenarios.

When it comes to risk management, it’s important to look beyond your KPIs and consider broader factors that could completely knock you off course. Most of the time, management teams find themselves in trouble when hit by something they never saw coming (How many CEOs had contemplated a global pandemic?). As grim as it may sound, invest some time in planning for worst case scenarios and litigation risks. 

Protect your Executive staff.

Succession planning is top of mind for many board members, but they also realize it's important to focus on helping the CEO and their team stay healthy. Some of them want to be out meeting employees or the first back in the office to show that returning to work is ok. But boards can help acknowledge the health risk of doing so (especially if it involves multiple exec members together). Executive teams will have to adopt new ways of working and communicating (e.g., holding more frequent smaller meetings rather than massive town halls). 

Reevaluate your physical space.

Many companies plan to continue working from home as long as they can—even through the end of the year to make sure their people are safe. And board members agreed, some employees may never return to an office. Large organizations are questioning whether they really need all of their physical locations, and startups are seeing the opportunity to extend their runway by giving up leases.

Reimagine the future of work.

With massive campuses, open floor plans, and office perks, the last several years of workplace experience has been driven by the idea that people work best when they are all together in the same space. But as the pandemic has proven, in many cases, teams can be successful remotely—they just need to be managed differently. And when offices re-open, they’re going to look different. Board members are anticipating changes in the workplace such as working in shifts, socially distant meetings in larger conference rooms, and the reintroduction of cubicles/shields.