What You Can Expect
Improving Boardroom Effectiveness
All corporate boards must have well-defined responsibilities and relevant information flow. Perhaps most important, board members also must learn how to collaborate as a team when they oversee strategy, compliance, and succession planning.
Making Corporate Boards More Effective focuses on activities that are crucial to boardroom effectiveness, keeping in mind that time is limited and that getting the right information is critical. You will be exposed to insights on the core responsibilities, working relationships, and best practices of corporate boards and management teams.
Equipped with new skills and perspectives, you will work through issues such as:
- Role of the board—How well does your board understand its responsibilities? The board has latitude within its legal responsibilities to define its precise role in relationship to strategy, succession, and compliance.
- Business strategy—Is your company's strategy sound and profitable? If the business strategy is not working, the board is responsible for fixing it. You will explore ways for the board to work actively and constructively with management to solve problems while avoiding value destruction.
- Impact of regulations on the core mission—What approach should your company take to comply with changing regulatory regimes? You will examine the latest requirements for financial reporting and executive compensation, as well as a comprehensive roadmap for responding positively to increasing levels of shareholder activism.
- Crisis management—How will your board react to unexpected crises? You will explore strategies for dealing with emergencies that could destroy your company, including the departure of the CEO, hostile or friendly takeovers, environmental catastrophes, shareholder fraud, or other gross malfeasance.
- Dynamics of influence—Are your board meetings effective? You will acquire the frameworks needed to enhance discussion and decision making, meet guidelines, and ensure that board meetings are conducted more efficiently.
Enhancing Your Contribution as a Board Member
Growing government oversight and heightened investor and media scrutiny present fresh opportunities to evaluate your contributions as a board leader or member. You will benefit from the latest research and practices that improve your ability to:
- Understand your company's core business and strategy
- Leverage your knowledge, skills, and experience to impact the board's unique mission and operating structure—whether you are an outside director or an executive member
- Assemble and analyze the right level of information that will allow you to make better decisions
- Know when to seek advice from outside consultants and when to rely on your own judgment and experience