It is common knowledge that working as a team can result in an outstanding performance beyond what a highly capable person can achieve alone. The same is true for a corporate board of directors.
In any board, each member is usually a highly capable person with an impressive professional and educational background. Each director must meet strict criteria and be approved by shareholders. However, even though directors are highly capable, it does not mean they can always work together in harmony.
"Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success," Henry Ford once said. Working together means directors can truly synergise and steer the organisation to the next level of better performance and sustainability. In this regard, board members may want to consider the following suggestions as food for thought.
Quality decision-making: Directors have to make tough decisions that have consequences for the organisation for a long time. Whether the issue at hand is routine or unconventional, directors should apply the following rational skills and processes:
Situation analysis: Directors should try to gather as many facts as they can in order to reach an informed decision. By applying the right question-and-answer approach and their listening skills, directors should be able to analyse the situation in the right way.
Identify the right objectives: Based on their knowledge of the current situation and future possibilities, board members should set out the right purposes or objectives. For example, when Kodak started to struggle financially, one possible objective was to move forward with its own technology -- Kodak invented the digital camera, after all. Surprisingly, it decided to stick with its business purpose of selling film as a cash generator, even though it soon proved to be an outdated product.
Simplify the issue: Separating a problem into small and manageable parts can help decision makers to clearly see how to handle the big picture. The smaller the problem, the easier it is to communicate and convince others to accept the decision.
Value alternatives: Some successful board members may have a fixed idea and no other options. It should be mentioned at the outset that directors should consider more than one choice. Hence, the discussion will be handled properly and without fixed attitudes towards one scenario.
Project the consequences: Each option should be addressed together with pros and cons in order to see the whole picture and clear any doubts board members may have. If the chairman allows proper time to share views from those who have concerns, it will encourage synergy among directors.
Accept decisions: Discussions during board meetings are not an easy task as there could be several difficult decisions on the agenda. Agreeing with others' opinions may not always be easy, but these suggestions may be helpful to ensure acceptance of collective decisions:
Listening (hearing): It is important for directors to remind themselves to listen to, and hear, other members' suggestions first. Since humans communicate roughly 30% verbally and the remaining 70% via body language, one must also listen with the whole body. This means making eye contact with speakers and other board members, proper gestures when others are speaking, and so on.
Supporting: It's not easy to come up with a perfect idea based on verbal communication, due to limited information and time. However, directors should try to find the good point or strengths of any idea that is under discussion. Then, they should find a proper way to support the idea for the right cause.
Inclusive leadership: Behaving as an inclusive leader will encourage board members to find ways to bridge different ways of thinking and agree on practical solutions. It is easier said than done. But with strong intention, successful directors have overcome this difficult challenge.
Embracing differences: The more directors can speak their minds, the less conflict there will be since they will have fewer worries about having their views rejected. A meeting might conclude by supporting a particular board member's views but it does not mean that this person "won" the debate. It is a collective win for the team.
Effective solutions: Quality decisions alone, and acceptance of those decisions, cannot necessarily create superb team performance. But a lack of acceptance may lead to low commitment to execute the agreed plan. Similarly, a high degree of acceptance does not guarantee success if the decision was based on poor judgement or low quality of information.
According to Robert A Cooke and J Clayton Lafferty of Human Synergistics International, these two critical elements -- quality and acceptance of the decision -- must go together in order to generate effective solutions.
Even when a board is truly aware of this need and adopts a similar approach, unfortunately, some directors might still behave in less effective ways. Some may focus on their own solutions and not want to listen to others' ideas, or may simply follow the person in charge without asking enough questions.
However, at the end of the day, it is the duty of all members of the board to ensure that they truly work in harmony if they want to create sustainable performance in the long term.
Sorayuth Vathanavisuth, PhD, is Principal and Executive Coach at the Center for Southeast Asia Leadership. His areas of interest are executive coaching, leadership development, succession planning and corporate culture. He can be reached at sorayuth@sealeadership.com
