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So you want to be an NED … Five key questions to ask yourself

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ned

You have probably thought about this for quite some time and are sure that at a certain stage In fact, there’s hardly anyone I meet in the business world, who doesn’t wish to be invited to serve on a board as an NED.

Although being an NED appears to be highly desirable, prospective NEDs shouldn’t simply grab the first opportunity that comes along but take time to conduct in-depth research and ask themselves some tough questions.

According to Dr Sabine Dembkowski of Better Boards the market is quite transparent and if anyone wants to flourish as an NED, these are the five key questions you should ask yourself

  1. Do I understand the challenges of the organisation?
  2. Can I really add value to this board?
  3. Do I fit into this organisation?
  4. Can I really listen?
  5. Do I honestly have the time to read the board papers and prepare for every meeting?

Do I understand the challenges of the organisation?

It’s common place for candidates to be so excited about having the opportunity to serve as an NED they forget to do vital research.

What is the real situation of the company? What is the financial situation? Are there any lawsuits hanging over the organisation like a Damocles sword? What are the real challenges?

Remember, your name and good-standing will be associated with the organisation you are about to join. You want to be part of a success story. What you don’t want is to find yourself sitting on the Tube, hiding behind your paper because you can’t bare the idea of anyone recognising you.

Can I truly add value to this board?

Without doubt, there is increasing professionalism in the boardroom and the days where you could show up 4-6 times a year and enjoy a good lunch are to a greater extent well and truly over.

The best way to ensure you have a thriving NED career is to ask yourself, up front, the tough question: Can I truly, truly add value to this board?

Your performance on any board will contribute to shaping your personal brand and profile in the market place!

Investors and the public market have become much more savvy and can assess and measure performance. Remember – you are part of the story of the organisation.

Do I fit into this organisation?

Research indicates that executives in any role flourish if their personal value system is a good fit to the values of the organisation s/he is working for. This applies, equally to NEDs!

It is strongly advisable that you meet your board colleagues and some key executives before you make your decision to assess if you and the organisation is a good fit.

Can I really listen?

When you have signed on the dotted line, take the time to listen, observe and learn.
At the beginning of an NED role, you will need to investment a considerable amount of time to understanding the organisation and all its issues.

The time you take here will be a good investment.

When you really get to the bottom of (or, at least, deeper into) the issues, start to have conversations outside of the board room to understand even more and then form an opinion about the best way ahead. Remember, prepare for the challenging questions you might be asked or wish to ask.

Do I honestly have the time to read the board papers and prepare for every meeting?

Research indicates that on average NEDs claim to take about 3 hours to read the board papers.

However, given the average length of board papers, and assuming an average reading speed, it is likely to take at least three times as long – more like 1 day.

One can only presume that there is either a misrepresentation of the time it actually takes or that NEDs do not read all that is available and the latter is a risky strategy!

If the board papers are too long, it is far better to admit that this is far beyond what you can read and either step away from the challenge or consider initiating a programme to cut down on the board papers once you have become established. There are some fantastic solutions available and much can be done to tackle the issue of unloved, lengthy board papers.

If you want to become an NED take the time, search your soul and, providing you can answer an unresounding “yes” to each of these five questions, you’ll not only be able to make a valuable contribution but you’ll also enjoy the experience of “sitting at the table”.

 

Three strategies to impress the Executive Board

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strategy-for-success

“Dr Sabine,” tell me “Do I look like father Christmas?” My client Paul (name changed) put a smile on my face. The 5.8 foot, slim, dark haired guy in his mid forties didn’t look anything like the guy we all know from the Coca-Cola ads.

I had to say he didn’t, and we were right in the middle of our coaching conversation …

The session was a sharp reminder of the mistakes executives, who are one or two levels below the executive board, make when what they intend is just the oppositite. They want to leave a good impression but more often than not fail to do so. Instead of using the limited time they have with a member of an executive board to leave a good impression they all too often fall into the traps and do what all their colleagues do.

In this short article I want to highlight three strategies that will help you to increase your impact and leave the right impression.

Strategy 1: Change perspective – put yourself in the shoes of a member of the board

The day of a member of a board in a large corporation is made up of 20 minute slots. It is by far not uncommon that s/he has 20 meetings in the diary in one day. People come, people go.

Paul was at the end of a long day. He could not think of a single person who he talked with who cared to put her/himself in his shoes and bring something of value to him.

He wanted to explore in his coaching session what he could do to educate executives how to best use the time they have with him. For him it was sheer madness how all these people choose to use the time with him. Paul described to me how he would have never dared to have a meeting with a member of a board and waste it to complain, ask for something and serve excuses for weak results.

He employed a simple trick.

Before any meeting with a member of the executive board he spent a good half hour to put himself in the shoes of the board member. What keeps her/him awake at night? What issues does s/he currently have on the table? Where does his/her pressure come from – investors, competition, suppliers, union …?

Once he was clear in his own head about the real current concerns of the board member he started to craft his key messages.

Strategy 2: Think results and achievements rather than what you have done

Most clients want to talk about what they have done, how hard it was to get there, what obstacles they had to overcome and how they struggled with the limited resources. Over 80% of their thinking and preparation circles around the input factors and only 20% output i.e. results. This is exactly what Paul experienced.

Now listen to what Paul did before he was appointed to the executive team.

At the start of any project I was involved in I established the baseline. I worked together with other departments to get numbers on the table. At times this was not easy and quite tricky but I became friends with our Controlling guys and was always quite smart in making use of consultants who were running around in our organsiation (he laughed and had a twinkle in his eye).

When Paul worked on any project he tracked numbers and at times even created key performance indicators. This way he could always report actual results.

He then used the time he had with members of the executive board to talk about the actual results and communicated clearly how they relate to the issues that concern the member of the executive team (Strategy 1).

Strategy 3: Communicate concisely

Most board members are quick on their feet and can cut through the chase … they want the essence and not all the waffle. Focus on the key points and take the first two strategies to heart.

Because Paul put himself in the shoes of his board members and knew the numbers he could communicate concisely.

He described that this actually allowed him to get to know the board members as there was always time to talk about sports, holidays and the weekend. He even described a situation where he looked at his watch, saw that he just used 12 minutes and said, “You know what Sue (name changed), I presented you with all the information why don´t you just take a little walk instead of listening to me.” He managed again to put a smile on someone’s face.

When I listened to Paul I can clearly see why he got where he is.

 

 

Author: Dr Sabine Dembkowski of Better Boards

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