Effective Board Management Requires a Strong Support Infrastructure

Effective board management requires that directors take their responsibilities seriously, commit themselves to the process, and constantly strive to improve. It also requires a strong infrastructure to help the board and assist them do their best work. This includes the governance processes, systems, and tools in place for meetings planning, creation of materials, portal management and logistics.

The most efficient boards are those that conduct a rigorous analysis of risk-based drivers and mission-critical drivers, and focuses on the involvement of key stakeholders. This means requesting reports on suppliers, customers, and other key stakeholder behaviours and trends, as well as opportunities and headwinds in the economy. This means going out into the field and observing the way the company works in real-time. Then, bringing these insights back to the board for discussion.

The most important aspect of this pillar is the basic trust and respect that should exist between board members to enable quality discussion and debate, which includes challenging questions and viewpoints. It is also important to create an environment in which it is expected and acceptable that the board might not agree with management.

The ability of the board https://boardroomevent.com/ to perform its job is contingent on the quality and accessibility of information. Leading boards are able to effectively make decisions by ensuring an information infrastructure that is in line with the board’s mission, engagement model and vision for excellence. This includes an explicit matrix of authority (sometimes referred to as a RACI Map) that clearly determines who is responsible for, accountable, consultative or knowledgeable about specific subjects and when these roles and obligations have been fulfilled.