High Performance Boards, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 22Is the Board a Team?

Fundamentally, the Board is Not a Team

The chair of one of the largest European financial institutions approached us for guidance on how to make her board work as a team. To her surprise, we suggested that a credible, high-performing board is in fact not a team in the traditional sense of a group of executives or managers. This sparked a discussion on what factors best define a board's competence and where a board's dynamics and workings differed substantially from those of a team (Figure 22.1). Historically, boards of directors have operated as groups of individuals rather than as teams.

Where they did act as a team, it was typically in an ad hoc manner, by convening on a regular basis to hear updates and make decisions. To a large extent, this syncopated rhythm reflected the board's physical makeup – of members who were not sharing a permanent office, had board positions or other affiliations in different companies, and gathered for the purpose of addressing issues and problems. Rather than a classic project team, their meetings resembled a hackathon – working within defined blocks of time and focusing on scoping and defining specific collaborative tasks.

Under competent chairmanship – one that provided high-quality background materials, presentations, Q&A and discussions, and allocated time fairly to each director – the ad hoc team that was the board could indeed become effective and produce inspired solutions. Nonetheless, standard team-building ...