Boards need to work diligently to strike the right balance in the relationship with their CEO. It requires a combination of support and guidance mixed with the right level of skepticism.
They must also ensure their advice and feedback doesn’t come across as giving instructions. No CEO wants to be told: “If I were you, this is what I’d do…”
To find out how boards can set the right tone and maintain a healthy tension with their CEO, we spoke to Adrienne Arthurs, CEO of The Living Room, a UK non-profit, and Co-Chair of North Herts and Stevenage CVS.
Q. In your role as Board Trustee, how do you ensure transparent and open communication with the CEO?
“We create an environment in which everyone is an equal partner and recognize that we’re all there with the same passion. It’s not about anyone having a more important role, everyone is an equal trustee. That helps to level the playing field, and I find that when people know they can talk to any one of the trustees they feel more comfortable and they communicate better.
“When I became a CEO, I felt disconnected from the board. I felt they had an agenda and I didn’t know what the agenda was. So for the board that I’m on, we’ve made sure that the CEO feels they are a partner. The board is there for governance, but it’s the CEO who knows what’s going on operationally. They’ve got information that we don’t, and we can’t meet without them.”
Q. You mentioned that previously as a CEO you’d felt disconnected from the board because they had a different agenda. How did you rectify that?
“Rather than saying something to the whole board, I arranged to meet individual trustees on a one-to-one basis. Having the private conversations meant each of them felt able to help and one trustee even volunteered to be my advocate at meetings. So I try to encourage that CEO advocacy approach with the board I’m on now, because it helps the conversation flow.”
Q. How should CEOs seek and incorporate feedback from the board?
“You need to understand how people like to communicate. Some members are very vocal while others can be quiet. So, getting the board papers out early, giving members plenty of time for feedback, and inviting the members to submit questions in advance all helps.
“We have one trustee who doesn’t talk at all in the board meetings but she always gives us comments before the meeting, and that enables the chair to report what she’s said. We found that her comments often sparked discussion and this has led to other trustees also submitting comments in advance. So it feels as if everyone’s involved, even though they’re not all talking at the meetings.
“And if you give people that opportunity to comment they are more likely to read the papers, even if it is only the night before, or even five minutes before the meeting starts!”
Q. As a CEO, how do you frame your questions to the board to make sure you’re getting constructive feedback?
“I try to ask three questions to establish what topics I want feedback on, otherwise you sometimes find they’re offering you solutions in areas where you haven’t asked for their help. And they always say the same thing, suggesting you contact Elton John and ask him to put his hand in his pocket. Not helpful!
“I’ve encouraged our CEO to do the same, so she tells us what she wants help with. And some of the things she’s brought have been fantastic and make a big difference to the decisions we make.
“However, if there are occasions when you think the CEO needs advice because things are not going well, don’t do it in a public forum but ask for a private meeting afterwards. Praise in public, criticize in private. Likewise don’t give unsolicited advice at the board meeting, because that’s not helping, that’s telling someone what to do.”
Q. In regards to avoiding micromanagement, how do you make sure you don’t overstep that mark?
“I would say ask rather than tell. For instance, offering specific expertise is like telling someone they are incompetent, likewise saying you know somebody that can help is very negative, even if it was well-intentioned. It’s much better to ask if they would like help.
“I know you’re talking about the board generally, but you do find that a lot of the friction happens publicly at the meetings. Whereas quite a lot of the work goes on in small groups or even one-to-ones, where you can have frank discussions that won’t be made public. People need to trust that you are not going to share their feelings with everyone.
“If there is a concern you can always decide to discuss it with the board and that can be a closed meeting, but the CEO needs to know that you’re doing this. You can then go back to them and discuss what was said and offer to help.”
Q. Are there areas where some board members should consider giving advice?
“Often a CEO can lack HR skills or people/financial management expertise. The board might well say that doesn’t matter and you can outsource, but they do need to decide which areas of the organization they want strengthened. And if a board member is proactively offering – not imposing! – expert help, why not take advantage of that?
“Can I just add something about advice the board should avoid giving? It’s less about the subject, and more about never saying “What you should do is…” Avoid that phrase like the plague!”
Q. As a CEO, do you have any examples of advice from the board that made you think differently or do your job better?
“I had a great bit of advice from somebody with lived experience of recovery.
“I like to do whiteboard exercises and bounce ideas around the room. One day somebody pointed out that we don’t do anything for the people who have graduated from recovery and are no longer using our services, and they offered to help. So we took up that suggestion and we made the graduates’ group happen, and we now regularly feed their comments back to the board.
“So this was somebody who’d come out the other side and wanted to help other people. What he didn’t do was just say he’d got the answer and could tell people what to do. He asked the question “What are we doing for people who’ve left?” And it was so helpful.”
Q. We often hear people say they don’t know how to give the chair feedback, or they don’t feel they can be truthful. Do you have any advice on that?
“I’d say that that was a cultural issue. For instance, you might have a negative chair who’s come from big business where the board wouldn’t decide anything without seeing multiple papers, but your CEO is too busy running the organization to be able to deliver these.
“You need other board members to be willing to push for change. If you can persuade the chair to do some training this can also make a big difference.”
