Board Alignment for Success

I was in Dubai last week speaking at the CXO Conference in Dubai last week.  I was invited to a Fireside chat with Suzan Al Ghanem to discuss ‘Navigating Board-Shareholder Engagement: Strategies for Building Trust and Aligning Interests’.

I feel grateful for the opportunity to speak and talking at a Global Conference always invites multi-layered opinion, questions and insights.  The best kind of audience.

We discussed 4 key areas.  Here are a few highlights:

1 – Communications & creating a safe space

• Transparency of communication is essential
• Open and transparent communication is imperative to build trust
• Open lines of communication between board and shareholders are necessary
• Regular updates on company performance, strategy and governance practices keeps shareholders informed
• Clear communication reduces the potential for misunderstanding or conflict
• Be clear with one another, check you have been understood and own it if not and ask relevant questions
• Conduct thorough shareholder analysis to understand priorities, concerns and expectations
• Recognise the diversity of shareholder interests and welcome diversity of opinion
• Address key concerns such as corporate governance, executive compensation and long- term value creation

2 – Board Members Expertise – Recruitment Process

• Ensure the board possess diverse skills, experiences and perspectives
• Select Directors with relevant industry knowledge and a deep understanding of shareholder dynamics
• Recruitment must involve all relevant shareholders in the screening process
• Look for what you don’t have? Where is the skill gap, what specialism do you need?
• Can the person be from outside industry, is that appropriate, diversity of knowledge?
• If you use psychometrics, bring this in later in the interview process, it’s not the place to start
• Do due diligence on any new potential hire

3 – Alignment of Interest (External stakeholders & internal stakeholders)

• Align board and management incentives with long-term shareholder value creation
• Vesting cycle, length and % to be considered when considering financial reward
• Performance based compensation structures tied to key metrics such as financial performance, sustainability goals and stakeholder satisfaction
• Drive/create and encourage a shareholder orientated culture focused on accountability

4 – Are board meetings effective & how do we make them effective?

• Set clear objectives/desired outcomes for each meeting
• Align meeting topics with strategic priorities and governance responsibilities
• Develop agendas
• Have a cadence
• Share the agenda in advance
• Everyone needs to come prepared with relevant material, reports and background information
• Assign pre-meet tasks if necessary, ie reading through a report
• Designate a skilled facilitator ie a board Chair to keep the meeting on track
• Encourage active participation from all board members
• Open and honest dialogue
• Allocate time for each agenda item, manage time wisely
• Have clear decision making processes
• Document decisions and actions and assign responsibilities for actions and a timeline
• Remember to review effectiveness of meetings

We did not get into it on the stage but the results are amazing.  Working with a board to drive cohesion and synergy helps improve team performance.  Strengths Finder is a tool for teams and individuals to understand and maximise their performance.

When working with a Board, each Director will conduct the assessment, have their own 1:1 feedback session, followed by a team workshop.  I am a trained Master Coach and Strengths Finder Coach and would love to talk to you and share how we can help your leadership team work even better than they do already.

Just drop me a message to learn more.  Thank you

Elizabeth, Ludo Founder  elizabeth@Weareludo.com