How Can Boards Get Comfortable with Discomfort?

There's something weird going on in the universe. It feels like everything is ever so slightly ‘off’; like ‘back to normal’ post Covid isn’t back to normal at all.?Things are shifting in all sorts of subtle ways, and we’re living and working by truths that really aren't truths anymore. There’s been a realisation that some of the old ways of doing things no longer work.

Sometimes everything looks normal, but there’s something there – you can feel the grain of sand in your shoe that you know will wear you down. More and more people I speak with have expressed a general sense of uncertainty, with the cost-of-living crisis, the tech market dive-bombing, the great resignation, wage inflation, and war. The growth bubble has perhaps burst.

So what does this mean in the Boardroom? How can Boards deal with this new state of things? ?Is what makes a successful business different now that the air has come out of the market, particularly for tech? And what are those conversations at the Board level?

Sparking New and Different Perspectives

We see this as businesses go through different milestones in their life – aside from Covid. There is an opportunity for visual clarity when these occur; they can force you to really focus on exploring a new perspective.

These milestones often include:

Fundraising

When funding requirements change, the demand for increased liquidity is a chance to really rethink the business model. Covid accelerated trends that were already happening, such as the shift to remote work and the increased collective desire for more convenience and for personalisation. Asking the market for fresh cash means you have to be aligned, specific and clear on what returns that money will provide.?

We are raising a new round with Planks right now, and the team is focused on getting the brand into more people’s hands through better marketing, a new website and smart partnerships.?It’s the same at Ultra Commerce: the success we are seeing in the States has generated interest from new investors in our ecommerce platform. When Covid closed all of the Tate Galleries, we doubled down on the several other revenue streams we’d cultivated over time (publishing, brand licensing and ecommerce, to name a few).?This kind of diversification is a good way to hedge your bets, provided the team can execute without losing focus.?

Moving to digital

Ecommerce is a different playing field. Look at your customer journey. This is not simply a chance to replicate what you’ve got going on in physical stores – it’s a chance to be creative and create exciting new touchpoints, add new elements to the customer experience, get personal (and really personalised) and evolve your brand. Strategise, optimise, update your marketing plan – hit the data and the drawing board and see where it takes you.

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The departure of key members of the business

Another catalyst is when a key figure or a very established member of the Board leaves. Do you just look to fill the gap? Or is this in fact an opportunity to rethink everything? To put things back together so you’re not simply ‘plugging’ that gap? Is it, for example, an opportunity to appoint a digital NED who can recommend how to apply AI, Machine Learning, and the Metaverse to the business etc, to ensure a constant evolution within the business? Or perhaps hire a CxO who can suit the needs of the business as it is today, and not what it was five years ago.?Performing a skills audit is a good way to identify where those gaps are now, and what the next person on the team should be able to do well.

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Uncertainty: It’s A Chance to Kick the Tires

What does it take to have these new perspectives? That’s where diversity of thought around the Board table is very important. It might not be about a single NED, but about convening an advisory Board, which I’ve talked about a million times before – but is still so key.?

Using a milestone as a time to step back and reassess everything we're done previously is just good business sense – and I'm seeing happen more and more. It’s what a good Board does – it steps back and helps the CEO to say, ‘Should we look at this in a completely different way?’ It shifts the conversation, so that people start to see crises as a chance to kick the tires.

I was talking to a girlfriend of mine the other week about the Board of her environmental business. It’s a small company and they're going out for a significant funding round. We had the conversation around what skillsets she really needs in the business, which skills and elements aren’t already present and which she could use help with as the CEO, and that would give the business heft in the conversations she has with investors. She’s thinking outside of the box in filling this Non-Exec hole, by bringing in a mechanical engineer.

The point is, it's not simply about digital; it’s about really understanding which bits are missing, and how to shake up your thinking. Fear of the unknown has no place in businesses today. Evolution is natural for people, and it should feel just as natural for businesses too.

The Tech Spec

Interesting tech I’ve seen this week:

• Woopra – a customer journey analytics tool that changes the way businesses think about, analyse, interact with, and keep their customers. The platform is built to help companies improve and grow through a customer’s lifecycle.?
• Glew ?is a business intelligence tool specially built for e-commerce platforms that lets you connect your online store with business tools to help you smooth management and multi-platform reporting.
• Streamtime ?is brilliantly designed project management software that helps you plan, organise, schedule, and track creative teams.
• Hive ?is an excellent creative project management software that helps your team manage the project and move faster.?
• PartnerStack ?is an industry-leading platform that optimises both the partner and partner management experience. It allows partners to reach more vendors and vendors more partners through an integrated marketplace.
• Omnicommerce helps businesses instantly use insight to improve focus and drive enhanced efficiency by focusing on the levers that drive long-term shareholder value

Written by Gabrielle Hase.

CEO of?Soleberry Advisory ?and digital Non-Executive Director. I want to help solve the problem of the lack of appropriate female and digital skills and perspectives at the board table.?

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