214. To what extent does the stuff we do help management? (Question #12)

This season, every episode of OMG focuses on a question that directors really need to answer. OMG is written, produced, narrated and scored by Matt Fullbrook.   TRANSCRIPT: Question #12: To what extent does the stuff we do help management? One of the unspoken themes of this season of OMG is that there are lots of things about boards that we tend to take for granted. Well, I’m here to say out loud that it’s not granted that boards do stuff that’s useful to management. It’s a fair assumption that boards, in general, really want to be useful to management. It’s also true, however, that boards feel a lot of pressure to spend time and energy on compliance, ask some probing questions and then basically call it a day. “Matt,” you might say, “compliance and probing questions ARE helpful to management!” And sure, that’s technically true. Being non-compliant is bad. Not being questioned can be bad, too, especially because questions can reveal persistent blind spots or validate our assumptions. Both good! But what if boards asked themselves what they might start doing or stop doing that could make the lives of senior executives better? And I’m not talking about a compensation increase. I’m talking about increasing the probability that executives might leave board and committee meetings with new ideas, new momentum, and feeling like they have the support to do an awesome job. Yes, obviously this is a bit of a tall order. But it’s not impossible! And while thinking about this question, if the only answer your board can come up with is some version of butt-covering, then I’m here to argue that you’ve got a big opportunity to do better.