Boards
"Over the past decade there has been a greater focus on the boardroom and increased pressure on board members. New areas such as technology, both in companies' strategy and potential IT risks; crisis management and reputational risk, including how organizations handle crises and how they communicate with stakeholders; and an overall increase in boardroom-shareholder engagement have made the role more demanding."Board Effectiveness: What Works Best (2nd Ed), authored by PwC and published by The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Research Foundation.
The success (or failure) of many companies starts and ends at the very top – with the Board of Directors.
As a leader at this level, you’re expected to meet an increasing range of obligations amidst commercial and legal expectations of their actions. Successful leadership at this level requires you to balance your governance obligations with sound business judgement.
When a board is working effectively, as a single unit, you know the company is in good hands. However, when there’s conflict at this level, that conflict often reoccurs at the executive and senior leadership levels – all of which distracts the company’s leaders for the job they’re there to do.
If your Board isn’t working well, the Ducendi Group can help you be clear about where the problems are, have a clear plan to overcome or remove them and build strong team dynamics so you know it’s an effective team once again.
Board Effectiveness
The point of conducting any Board evaluation is to improve board and company performance because it allows the board to get visibility of any problems and identify any areas where performance can be improved.
The Ducendi Group offers an evaluation tool which covers the following categories:
- Strategic planning
- Compliance and accountability
- Skills, education and development
- Board processes and structure
- Succession planning
- Individual and collective performance
- Financial performance
- Risk management
- Membership
Board Dynamics
Sometimes the issues boil down to the personalities around the table. To be effective, your Board needs to have a good blend of skills and experience, different opinions and points of view, individuals who are prepared to make decisions and call it when things don’t appear as they seem.
This can come at a cost. Boards are often made up of highly successful leaders, many of whom have achieved great things and are used to being in charge. This can lead to conflict. Team dynamics can strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs, and the effects of team dynamics are often very complex.
If you’re experiencing poor team dynamics then allow the Ducendi Group to help.
We use a variety of diagnostic tools that enable us to identify the strengths of each team member, and also look at how these strengths impact work style preferences, communication, judgements, and interactions with others. It also provides a team profile to show how individuals within the group blend together to complement or disadvantage others.
Create the Board you want
It’s time to create the team you need to achieve the results you want. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your team dynamics and see how we can help.
Telephone: +61 3 9010 5536 or +61 4 1148 5010.