Effective board management requires directors to take their responsibilities seriously and be committed to the process, and work to keep improving. It also requires a solid infrastructure to allow the board to perform its best work and accelerates the effort of the board members and management team. This includes the governance processes, systems and tools that are in place for meeting planning, material creation in the portal, logistics management, and materials creation.
The most effective boards are characterized by a constant examination of the most important, mission-critical drivers boardroomevent.com risk and opportunities as well as a focus on the key stakeholder engagement. This means requesting reports on suppliers, customers, and other key stakeholders’ behavior and trends. Additionally, it involves economic headwinds and opportunities. It also involves going out into the field to see firsthand the way the company works and bringing those insights back for discussion with the board.
This pillar is built on the trust and respect between board members, which need to be present in order to allow for debates and discussions of high quality. It is also crucial to create an environment which it is accepted and expected that the board may disagree with management.
The capacity of the board to do its job is dependent on the quality and availability of information. Boards that are successful 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 map of authority (sometimes called a RACI Map) that clearly defines who is responsible for, accountable, consultative or informed about specific issues and when these roles and the responsibilities have been met.