This month, Malcolm and I have been contributors to Small Giants’ ‘Governing for Purpose: Foundations for Directors’ program. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the numerous lessons we have learnt over years of working with company boards, municipal councils, committees of management and other governing bodies that oversee the governance and leadership of organisations in all their forms.
Governing bodies are inherently complex groups. They are usually made up of a diverse range of people from different personal and professional backgrounds. Their experience in governance and ways of engaging with others also varies.
Their reasons for being at the table can be various. They might be elected, have an automatic position (such as being a major shareholder), or be handpicked on the basis of some specific expertise. In community settings, they might have found themselves on a committee simply because they couldn’t keep their hand down at the annual general meeting.
This diversity naturally extends to the members’ interests. An independent board member might be focused primarily on governance issues while a shareholder might be more concerned with profit and growth. The treasurer (hopefully) wants to make sure the books are balanced while another member might be most focused on sustainability matters.
One thing that many members of governing bodies have in common is minimal training in the art of sitting on a board, council or committee. Some may have been trained in the technicalities and legalities of governance. However, many will be drawing on their life experience when it comes to working with a group of others, chairing meetings, how to work through disagreements and so on.
This can be a problem when things start becoming difficult – such as in making a very important decision or as a crisis unfolds. It’s one of life’s paradoxes that when things go wrong, clear thinking is needed, yet these are the times when it’s hardest to think clearly. This is the case for most of us as individuals, let alone when working as a group.
What we know is that if a governing body has built a strong culture at the outset, with a good understanding of each other, well developed trust, and open, emotionally healthy communication, then they will be much more effective as a group at ‘governing for purpose’. They will be less likely to develop the common characteristics of dysfunctional groups and they will be better placed to deal with crises.
There are a few simple habits members of governing bodies can use that will go a long way to developing a positive, productive culture of working together.
At the outset, it is important that everyone acknowledges the principal of ‘first among equals’ when it comes to the position of chair, particularly where that position is elected and appointed by the body members. This is often forgotten.
While it’s true that the chair may have some additional responsibilities, they ultimately have no more or less say than anyone else. For that reason, ordinary members have a governance responsibility to raise instances where the chair forgets or ignores this principle, or where they try to exert excessive influence on the group and their decision making.
As for techniques that are both practical and useful, a good place to start is setting an intent prior to a meeting. We do this by asking of ourselves, ‘How do I want to be in this meeting?’, which is a different question from ‘What do I want to do?’ There are some simple and effective ways of practising how to do this.
Another powerful practice is asking a simple ‘check-in’ question at the start of each meeting. The concept behind the check-in is that ‘you haven’t arrived at a meeting until you have spoken’, with a good check-in breaking the ice while supporting all participants in becoming more present and focused on what needs to be achieved.
In situations where the tension starts to rise or someone becomes disruptive – and these will occur with even the best boards in the best organisations – the group as a whole can take responsibility for displaying and encouraging emotionally healthy behaviours.
These can include staying calm and trying non-verbal techniques, reinforcing positive behaviours, reminding each other to stay above the line, refocusing the discussion by summarising or clarifying, trying to understand the source or trigger of the rising emotions, or even taking a break and making a direct statement to the person who is being disruptive or who is the source of the tension.
Of course, there is a lot more to it than I can cover in a single blog post. We will explore some other good habits of management groups in a future post. In the meantime, hopefully there is some food for thought here for those of you who are members of a governing body.
Gayle
