Governance in the Digital Age

CHAPTER 7 Board Behavioral Profiles: A Governance Roadmap for the Digital Age

Unlike many other roles within the company, the governance role rarely comes with a clear roadmap. For many positions in a company, extensive training, support, and written documentation are provided on the norms, procedures, and standards for each area of responsibility. Directors, meanwhile, are expected to join a board fully prepared to navigate a wide variety of sensitive, complex, and challenging issues with minimal guidance. Many issues cannot be discussed outside the confines of the boardroom, let alone be documented in writing, which means that detailed procedural manuals, training, and ongoing operational support for the governance role are rather rare.

Boards are increasingly expected to function as high-performing teams. Yet, the nature of board work is such that directors meet only a handful of times throughout the year, spend much of their time in meetings passively listening to presentations, and are actively discouraged from having sidebar conversations or contacting employees directly to seek answers to questions. The likelihood that any group of individuals could become a high-performing team under these conditions is low indeed.

Meanwhile, technology serves as both a catalyst and a backdrop to all of the changes taking place in corporate governance. Directors are feeling increasing pressure to become tech-savvy – not only from the standpoint of the technology tools they use, but ...