The Fish Rots From The Head: The Crisis in our Boardrooms: Developing the Crucial Skills of the Competent Director

by Bob Garratt

There are six pre-conditions for a board development process to be successful: The board members must recognize and accept the difference between managing and directing. They must appreciate the need from the start to benchmark the position of the board as a working group, themselves as individual board members and the total effectiveness of the organization itself, in terms of both where they are now and where they wish to be. These differential or gap analysis measures are the foundation of any type of development process. No scientific process can start without them. The chairman must take the lead responsibility for the board development processes. After all, the chairman is the boss of the board and is ultimately responsible for ensuring board members’ competence. It is crucial that every director has a rigorous board induction process based on the seven directoral duties, their own organization’s memorandum and articles of association and any shareholders’ agreements. Every director needs an annual personal development plan agreed with the chairman. There must be a rigorous annual appraisal, disclosed to the owners, of the performance of the board as a whole, each director including the chairman, and each committee.