Why directors should reveal their purpose to colleagues, if they know it

Some view the boardroom as a cross between a bear pit and The Coliseum. A place where ritual humiliation can be observed if not savoured. An arena of intricate game playing where the winner gets their way.

Why would any director take the risk of being vulnerable in these circumstances, even if the caricature above is only sometimes true?

The answer to that question is that if you feel that your board is irredeemably dysfunctional, then you should leave it.

But most boards are remedial, because most directors, bar psychopaths and extreme narcissists, are in search of meaning to their lives, even if they might not admit it or indeed be aware of it.

The downside of the current obsession with “board effectiveness” is that it almost anthropomorphises boards. Boards, per se, can be neither effective nor ineffective

Only directors can be effective, and so, ideally, director effectiveness reviews should replace board effectiveness reviews.

But don’t expect directors to be all clamouring to be personally reviewed, even anonymously, anytime soon because they would feel exposed.

Their weaknesses would be laid bare. Their insecurities revealed. Their lack of clear purpose and direction a potential embarrassment.

Many readers will scoff at this scenario as a wild generalisation. They will protest that they have a singular focus, probably based on some external measure of success.

But many too would if given a chance to explore it, acknowledge a gnawing sense of internal purposeless wholly at odds with their frenetic and often stressful external personae as directors.

How can boards possibly achieve their potential if a context isn’t created to enable its directors to achieve theirs?

The best-kept secret in business life is that organisations are merely a loose collection of individuals for a brief period and not a unitary body which acts like some corporate robot programmed by a unanimous board.

It’s a nonsensical construct. But we all collude with it because we see no alternative.

But what if it were possible for directors to be themselves at their board meetings? What if they could share with colleagues their journeys towards meaning and fulfilment?

How much more powerful therefore would their collective decision-making processes acting as a group of searching people sharing in a joint endeavour?

It will never happen on your board, you may say. But are you sure? What do you know, if anything, about the interior lives of your colleagues?

What do you know about your own interior life? What if you mustered the courage to make just a small change in how much you reveal about yourself to your board colleagues?

If you do, then watch and notice how, if you change, they’ll change. I’ve seen it done and it works.

Ciarán Fenton

I help directors relate better: with themselves, their colleagues and their organisations by exploring personal and organisational purpose, strategy and behaviour – Personal/Organisational PSB

Does your board have a shared WHY-HOW-D0 statement?

It’s not surprising in these times of extreme left and right political activity that “the meaning” industry is flourishing.

Simon Sinek is one of its leading experts. He has made the word “why” his own. That’s an achievement that merits awe, if not envy.

Then there is the “purpose” movement which takes an academic approach to the question of why an organisation does what it does.

It draws on philosophy, religions and academic research to help organisations to become more “purpose driven”.

Between the why people and the purpose people there is a broad spectrum of thinkers and speakers who address the reason why organisations do what they do in a variety of thoughtful ways.

Having addressed the issue of why, the next logical step is how? Fortunately, this is not a new area of reflection. How is about strategy and strategy is a multi-billion dollar business.

The strategy thinkers are impressive. They include Michael Porter, Jim Collins, and Clayton Christensen. Their books will never go out of print.

The strategy businesses are also impressive. McKinsey, BCG and Deloitte to name three. Then there’s a myriad number of boutiques.

When your board has sorted its why and its how it then has to decide what to “do”.

Do is about conduct. And conduct is defined as observed behaviour over time. I use the word behaviour and not the plural behaviours – the most commonly used form – deliberately, not pedantically.

Behaviour is a plural noun and means “the way in which one acts, especially towards others”. The word behaviours is a coined word and usually implies poor behaviour.

I’ve never heard anyone in a business situation say “there are some very positive behaviours on our board.”

Behaviour is neither poor nor positive, but complicated. That’s why the plural noun captures the context best. The use of language in this context matters.

Behaviour, or behaviours if you must, is also a growing industry best exemplified in the growth of the study of emotional intelligence – EI or EQ.

Daniel Goleman had cornered the EI market brilliantly. Like Simon Sinek, he has wrestled this topic to the ground and made it his own. He communicates tricky issues, simply. This is high art.

The EI movement is, in my view, an offshoot of “therapy”. The less well-known geniuses of therapy include Moreno (Psychodrama) and Perls (Gestalt). The popular ones include Tolle and M. Scott Peck.

There you have it. A three hundred word precis of the Why-How-Do market. So why can’t your board just get on with it?

The answer is that it’s hard. And the reason it’s hard it because it involves change. And change is hard because it consists of a stretch. And, ask any athlete, a stretch is hard.

Moreover, it involves not only your board changing but each of your board members changing their behaviour because your board is merely a coalition of the individuals on it for a short time.

And each member can’t change their behaviour unless they confront their personal Why-How-Do issues. And that’s not just hard; it’s painful.

And that’s why boards frequently don’t have a shared Why-How-Do statement. It’s painful for the members to write their own, let alone agree on a collective statement.

But once achieved, there’s no stopping that business. Do you know who on your board, consciously or unconsciously, might prevent it from framing its Why-How-Do statement? Is it you?

Start by addressing your Why-How-Do statement. Then, if you change, they will too.

Ciarán Fenton
I help directors on boards relate better to themselves, their colleagues and businesses

 

#ESG50 is the solution to the pay scandal

 

 

 

 

 

“Pregnancy is a sign of wavering commitment,” writes Suzanne Moore in The Guardian (6 Apr) in a piece about “the structural inequalities in the system”.

I believe that her accurate assessment will not be corrected unless and until Environment, Society and Governance (ESG) issues are given equal ranking with Return on Investment (ROI) issues.

The current backlash against inequality is rightly focused on mobilising against pay injustices including, what Suzanne Moore calls, “socialisation, what we think we are worth, and how we ask to be paid”.

But this will not be sufficient to bring about a fundamental shift in attitudes which requires the full integration of family life into business decision-making because it’s right, and not because it might be good for business or compliance reasons.

Why should any business thrive at risk to the environment, society and good governance? Equally, why should an investor risk their capital without reasonable incentives to do so?

These two forces are interdependent. Without families, there would be no customers, employees or organisations. Without risk-capital businesses would not exist.

The current model is no longer fit for purpose. Business decision-making will have to move towards a 50% ROI – 50% ESG model if the backlash from those forgotten is not to create bitter conflict.

There are signs that sentiment is moving towards an #ESG50 model. For example, Harvard Business Review gives a 20% weighting to ESG factors in its Top 100 CEOs rankings. I presented a paper on this point at The University of Bologna last month.

I wonder what their rankings would look like if HBR recalculated them using a 50%, instead of 20% weighting, for ESG factors?

That would be a fascinating exercise. Which CEOs would move down or up the list? And what would it chase out about pay inequality issues?

You can download that paper here.

 

Ciarán Fenton

Board Effectiveness Consultant

I help directors on boards relate better: with themselves, colleagues and organisations

 

3 things the Facebook board should now do to prevent further “high risk events”…

…first, appoint a Devil’s Advocate at each board meeting, by rotation, and with permission and an expectation to call out risks not faced at that meeting. See https://ciaranfenton.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/could-a-devils-advocate-process-prevent-a-carillion-situation-in-your-business/

Second, voluntarily apply an ROI50 #ESG50 ratio to all decision-making to offset the risks around Mr Zuckerberg’s 60% voting control. See #ESG50: equal ROI/ESG ratios would lead to better boardroom decision-making

Third, attend this: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/is-behaviour-on-your-board-a-risk-time-bomb-a-one-day-workshop-tickets-43315044464

Ciarán

 

 

 

Launching a NED portfolio career: 7 mistakes to avoid

§1: Frightening the CEO and other directors

Nascent NEDs frequently, if unconsciously, spook CEOs and directors on NED interview panels. There’s an art in reassuring the CEO that he or she should not feel threatened. However, at the same time, the NED is expected to act as a critical friend. This is a tricky balance but crucial at a time when corporate failure and scandal is perceived to be driven, in part, by the reluctance of NEDs to call out poor conduct more frequently and robustly. I suspect that, in future, boards will be increasingly looking for more courageous NEDs.

§2: Forgetting to sell themselves effectively at interview

Potential NEDs rarely lack self-belief, if not self-worth. This leads them to break basic interview rules. They talk too much, don’t listen and don’t address needs. They will have forgotten how to sell in these circumstances. Selling is about understanding needs, demonstrating how you meet these needs and reassuring the buyer about any gaps. The mistake made most often by NED candidates is that they forget that the least risky, not necessarily the best candidate, is likely to be selected. They focus on themselves and their strengths instead of closing the gap between their weaknesses and the needs of the buyer.

§3: Failure to demonstrate, rather than assert, strengths

I have worked with many successful business leaders who fail to tell the stories behind their success. Some because they have not needed to do so or have big egos. Others, because they are uncomfortable with their success or even shy about it. Either way, the interview panel needs stories that demonstrate success. Mediocre NEDs who can tell good stories often beat better NEDs who cannot, or won’t. Novice NEDs may lack confidence, though they may not admit it. Confronting their fears and being open about them is a far better way of impressing panels and it demonstrates that they have high EI/EQ. Low confidence is easy to spot so you may as well be candid about being out of your comfort zone. Being a NED is a wholly different experience to being a CEO. If you admit that you don’t know what you don’t know about being a NED, you are likely to have a more fulfilling NED career with the right boards. But some boards you should avoid. They don’t deserve you.

§4: Needing to be a NED, rather than wanting to be one

Boards need to know that their new NEDs are not frustrated CEOs. The hiring CEOs and their boards fear that some NED applicants are settling, very reluctantly, for the next best thing to being a CEO. So, it is vital that the market feels that you are ready, mentally, to be a NED. That means that you are prepared to move on from being in power to support those in power. CEOs and boards will benefit from your experiences and learn from your mistakes, not from you breathing down their necks.

§5: No marketing plan to build the portfolio

Building a portfolio is no different to creating any professional service business. It requires the same rigour in sales and marketing planning. I have met so many nascent NEDs who come from strong sales and marketing backgrounds but who abandon these principles in their search.

§6: Ignoring their unique experiences as the best differentiator

“I tick all the boxes” is a line I must have heard a thousand times from clients getting excited by a role they want. I tell them that they will never tick all the boxes because not all the boxes have been revealed in the job specification, either deliberately or unconsciously. Also, they frequently self-deceive on the boxes they say they do tick. Not that they lie. It is just they do not face the truth. Instead, they should focus on their unique career timeline. No one shares that. Not one.

§7 Failing to display high emotional intelligence

Everyone has behavioural weaknesses. But successful business people rarely have to confront theirs because they are in power. But when they are pitching for a NED role they are not in charge. They are selling, not buying. Furthermore, the buyer needs to expose at interview any behavioural issues that may become problematic later. So portfolio builders who have not paid attention to emotional intelligence issues will struggle if they do not confront their behavioural weaknesses. They must be ready to reassure the buyer that they are self-aware.

Probably lack of self-awareness is the single most significant barrier to building a fulfilling NED portfolio.

For more on this topic: see

The Seven Deadly Sins of Nascent NEDs

How to present that damning internal report to your board

Once upon a time, a client director commissioned a report by an external consultant on company operations which she then presented to board colleagues.

The report was excellently researched, mainly via extensive internal interviews. While the report contained some good news, it was mainly damning in respect of internal processes and conduct, especially institutionalised bullying.

Moreover, the perpetrators of the bullying were amongst the senior ranks and the process weaknesses exposed some of the directors. How should my client best present the report?

I advised that she opens with a restatement of the shared purpose of the business: before I present the outcome of the report I want to remind colleagues that we have agreed already that our shared overarching objective or purpose is X and our overarching strategy for achieving that purpose is Y.

Of course, it helps enormously if the board has taken the time to come to a shared view on X and Y.

Frequently this is not the case. And if you find yourself in this position I advise that you never present a damning report, or indeed any report, without first agreeing a shared PSB – Purpose (P) and Strategy (S) so that you can safely explore what Behaviour (B) is required to implement the strategy to achieve the shared purpose.

PSB, therefore, is the presentational tactic that will prevent your damning report from rupturing your board and will protect you from the anger of the listeners which invariably masks their shame and fear of being shamed.

And shaming is the mortal enemy of effective boards or indeed any team. One client, a racing yacht captain, has a zero-tolerance policy on his boat for shaming behaviour in respect of crew errors especially amongst male crew members whose internal self-loathing is fuelled by the tut-tuts of others with a disastrous impact on the race.

So your presentation is about fixing not pointing. It’s about behaviour, not people. Start with finding positive points in the report and genuinely celebrate their link to objectives. Do this slowly and not as a warm-up for a flogging. Tokenism will make things worse.

Don’t end the positive report with a “but”; end it with “and we should discuss how we can replicate this behaviour and celebrate those who model it”.

“However, given that we are trying to achieve X by implementing Y with behaviour Z, I feel alarmed that the report highlights significant weaknesses with processes A, B and C and I’m sure colleagues will agree that we cannot create an environment in which people will do their best work if we collude with bullying of any sort”.

The use of the words “I feel…” is part of the triad Feel, Need, Do which you can use effectively to protect yourself during the presentation from the accusation of pointing and not fixing.

In addition, the technique is very useful when dealing with the negative reaction of those who feel that the report appears to be fingering them. As the messenger, you can avoid being killed by using the following approach to the anger your message will generate.

Anger is a shallow emotion. Your job is to reveal, gently, the deeper feeling hidden by fury. Hurt and humiliation will not be far away. Try this:

“It sounds like the report has made you feel very angry. Tell me more”. Listen. Don’t interrupt, save to ask clarifying questions.

When you feel you have finished with your questions, dig deep and ask another. Often this last question is the one which will surface the need that goes with the feeling and what they want to do to meet their need, besides dismembering you.

Isn’t it time that in-house lawyers re-launched the legal function?

This blog was published recently by The Law Society here:

http://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/in-house/insideout-magazine/january-2018/isnt-it-time-that-in-house-lawyers-re-launched-the-legal-function/5064024.article

Ciarán Fenton says it’s time to redefine the role and purpose of the legal function to reflect the relationship between in-house lawyers and their business leaders.

 

Would it be reasonable for a curious Martian to ask in-house lawyers where they were when their business leaders took the decisions that led to their corporate scandals?

The stock answer is: ‘We were not in the room.’ Very often, they were not. But that does not explain, fully, why so many major brands with top class in-house legal teams still got into serious trouble, and continue to do so.

The relationship between legal functions and their boards is brittle, at best. In a 2016 survey of 400 in-house lawyers by the UCL Centre for Law and Ethics:

• 10-15 per cent experienced ‘elevated ethical pressure’
• 30-40 per cent ‘sometimes experienced ethical pressure’
• close to 50 per cent agreed that ‘actions were sometimes taken against their advice on legally important matters’.

Furthermore, for 65 per cent, ‘achieving what the organisation wants has to be their main priority’.

Surely, the priority of an in-house lawyer must be to provide, in their professional opinion, the best legal counsel and process appropriate to the objectives of the business? Surely, the lawyer must tell the business what legal services it needs? Surely, lawyers should not experience ethical pressure of any description whatsoever?

The authors of the survey found that there were four categories of in-house lawyer: the capitulators; the coasters; the comfortably numb and the champions. While the category names speak for themselves, the Martian might reasonably wonder why there are four, and not one.

But had the Martian attended in-house legal conferences and workshops over the last ten years, they would understand the cause of the problem. These conferences are, usually, dominated by three questions, which are never fully answered.

1. How can the legal function reduce costs?

The favoured phrase is ‘how can we do more for less’, as if their default position is to do less for more.

2. How can we demonstrate value to the business and ensure a seat at the table?

If lawyers have to work so hard to demonstrate their value, is it a surprise that they were not ‘at the table … in the room’ when the fatal decisions were made?

3. How can in-house lawyers become more commercial – business people first, lawyers second?

Some years ago, one in-house counsel who spoke on this topic to hearty applause from peers was later forced to reverse that order when the business he worked for was embroiled in a major scandal. It was ‘lawyer first’ then, no question.

Meanwhile, business leaders feel frustrated. After all, they say, the legal profession created this class of lawyer who happily takes their salary, annual holidays and pensions, but is often ‘not commercial enough … lack leadership skills … and don’t understand the business’.

They struggle to understand why the legal function should not behave exactly like like the other main functions – finance, marketing, sales, operations, IT and HR. Why, they might reasonably ask, don’t the accountants call themselves ‘in-house accountants’? What’s so special about lawyers?

As one CEO said, in exasperation: ‘All I want the legal function to do is to anticipate risk.’ Another reportedly quipped, somewhat tongue in cheek (though not entirely): ‘Your job is to make what we do legal.’

A new understanding

This dysfunctional, conflicted relationship serves no one. It’s time to reframe the role and purpose of the legal function to reflect the relationship between in-house lawyers and their business leaders in a new memorandum of understanding. This MOU would be based on three principles.

First, all parties would acknowledge that in-house lawyers are officers of the court working within the business for its protection, at all times. They are special. They are different.

Second, the legal function should tell, not ask, the business what legal counsel and services it needs, and seek to find the best price it can to deliver those services.

Third, since businesses will inevitably wish to spend less on legal services than the legal function needs, they must accept the risks in doing so. In-house lawyers must stop doing work they are not paid to do.

This last step would be the greatest hurdle because, despite their public perception, lawyers are trained to ‘get it done, no matter what’. High stress levels are common.

I set out the ideas above at a speech to the GC Futures Summit 2017, and was surprised by the strength of response. The video of my speech on LinkedIn has received over 15,000 views and extensive comments. Clearly, there is interest in this issue.

But will anything change? Not unless and until the legal profession starts the painful process of re-launching the legal function, which emerged, incrementally, from a private practice model.

One way to accelerate this is to increase the number of conferences at which there are an equal number of business and lawyer delegates. I have launched The GC-CXO Forum as my contribution to this process.

Sooner or later, the legal function will have to confront the nature of its contractual relationship with the business. It may have already compromised itself: for example, by participating in some performance incentive schemes. Surely, lawyers cannot be said to be acting independently if they are giving advice on contracts that could impact on their bonuses?

These are inconvenient truths, but they must be faced, and in a manner that a curious Martian might understand.

 

Ciarán Fenton