Board Performance

Experts in Board Performance

All our work with Boards has a common root: we add value to the people who populate them, individually and collectively, because it is their strategic contributions that affect organisational performance.

The Boards we work with are many and varied. They include listed, private equity and family businesses; government departments; public sector organisations; professional partnerships; and bodies in the voluntary sector. The services we provide to them are also many and varied.

Board Reviews

We conduct sensitive, insightful Board Reviews that enable Chairmen and Directors to identify aspects of their Board’s work that, if done differently, will improve its effectiveness. Our Reviews typically cover two things: what the Board works on (content) and the way it works on it (process, including culture and behaviours). We then support the Board as it implements changes in its arrangements.

Working with Directors

We do a lot of work with individual Chairs, CEO’s and Directors in support of their wish to do the best-possible job.

• Chairmen
  Becoming Chairman – or woman – of an organisation for the first time, particularly of one that has a high public profile, is a unique challenge. The role demands different leadership skills and behaviours to those commonly practised by CEO’s and other senior executives, from whose ranks Chairs are usually chosen. We help Chairs prepare for and step up to their role.
• CEO's
  A CEO’s job is one of the most demanding and complex there is. CEO’s are all-powerful, yet must keep many diverse stakeholders on-side. They must be convincing on strategy whilst masters of the detail. They are fully accountable and responsible for their organisations but rely completely on others to get things done. We act as coach and sounding board to many CEO’s – first-time appointments and others – as they get to grips with their agenda and move it forward.
• Directors
  Many executive and non-executive directors who join a Board for the first time find it is an experience for which they are almost completely unprepared. We help them comprehend and become confident in their new “cabinet” role, and thereby make a valuable contribution.

Succession

We help talented executives become credible, attractive candidates for Board positions. We continue to support them as they step up.

Women in Boardrooms

We provide specialist help to Chairman and CEO’s who want to create an environment in which talented women, as well as talented men, are encouraged and supported so that they become excellent candidates for Board positions - and excellent contributors once appointed. One of our partners in the U.K., Peninah Thomson, has co-authored 'A Woman's Place is in the Boardroom' a study of why women still face ‘barriers to entry’ at the highest level, and what organisations can do to help women fulfil their potential.

Board Events

Most Boards benefit from spending quality time off-site. We help Chairman, CEO’s and Board Secretaries plan and prepare off-site meetings which we facilitate.