Science, politics and intuition needed for high-performance boards
Proficient, high-calibre directors are the essential elements of a high-performance board that can successfully navigate the current complex volatile business and economic environment. These highly qualified individuals need not only the technical or scientific attributes of traditional business school competencies but also a mix of politics and intuition.
The board selection process has gone awry because it emphasises specific competencies and skills. This speaks the language most business people understand but it leads in the wrong direction as the work of high-performance boards involves the three interlocking dimensions:
1. Science,
2. Politics, and
3. Intuition.
The absence of proper attention to the political and intuitive aspects leads to creating meaningless or distracting lists of skills.
As the Financial Times points out in a recent article: “The list of attributes required of a non-executive director is so long, precise and contradictory that there cannot be a single board member in the world who fully fits the bill”.
Lists of required competencies for directors frequently include capabilities such as ‘strategic and practical thinker’, or ‘reflective and action oriented’. Competencies on lists struggle against each other all the time and no single competency can always win.
Politics and intuition can be deciding factors
By what magical means can we work out we need to be reflective or action oriented? An outcome of politics and intuition will decide. However, political skill, in particular, is almost always absent from contemporary management frameworks. So we get longer and longer lists of even more specialised skills.
“The external environment is undergoing transformation with increasing levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and risk,” said Sandra Burmeister, CEO of Amrop Landelahni. “As the demands of corporate governance and compliance with regulatory frameworks increase, boards tend to focus more heavily on measurable or objective elements - qualifications, knowledge or experience.
“However, the increasing complexity of the external environment makes it necessary to go beyond CVs, competencies and reputations. Innovation, integrity, emotional intelligence and consistent decision-making under pressure become important. That is what distinguishes good leaders from bad ones. The quality of leadership of the board is the key to meeting and outperforming the organisation’s financial, social and sustainability goals.”
Modern management, both in practice and theory, has prioritised what is measurable, objective or controllable. But experienced managers also place importance on aspects that can’t be articulated or measured in an easy way. This includes intuition – expert judgment, values and cultural perceptions - elements we find obvious without easily being able to pinpoint why.
Politics is the most neglected aspect in assessing prospective directors
It covers the struggles for limited resources. It includes making judgments about internal or external risk. This is infrequently discussed in management books or even by executives themselves.
High-performance boards understand that leadership is about relationships
Exemplary boards are robust, effective social systems operating with a virtuous cycles of respect, trust and honesty. This demands that directors don’t get trapped in rigid, typecast positions, and that there is interplay at board level of scientific, political and intuitive decision-making, each of which challenges the others.
