Growth and Governing vs Maintenance and Operations
What does your Board think its job is?
A simple question but one that too many Boards struggle to answer.
If Board directors believe their primary responsibility is reviewing financial statements, approving policies, receiving reports and ensuring compliance, they have fundamentally misunderstood the purpose of governance.
Those activities matter, but they are the price of admission not the purpose of the Board.
Too many Boards operate with a maintenance mindset. They protect the status quo, monitor yesterday’s performance and spend meeting after meeting discussing what has already happened.
Great Boards have a growth mindset.
They challenge assumptions. They explore opportunities. They anticipate disruption. They ask difficult questions. They make the Chief Executive (and ultimately the organization) stronger through thoughtful strategic dialogue.
From Oversight to Strategic Partnership
The Board’s most important role is not to supervise the Chief Executive. It is to become the Chief Executive’s most valuable strategic partner.
Yet many Chief Executives leave Board meetings having received approvals instead of insight, oversight instead of foresight and administration instead of strategic value.
That’s not effective governance. That’s a board that has reduced itself to an administrative function.
Every Board meeting should leave the organization better positioned for the future than it was before the meeting began. If directors aren’t helping management think more strategically, navigate uncertainty, identify emerging risks and seize new opportunities, they’re simply watching the organization operate. That’s not governing.
So here’s the question every Board needs to ask at the end of every meeting: Did we simply fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities or did we actually make the organization better?
Compliance keeps an organization legal; a growth-minded Board helps an organization thrive.
Want to learn more about running effective Board meetings? For that and governance training support, explore our Resources page and contact us with your questions.