Elevating Board Collaboration

By Ying Liu, MBA, LEED AP BD+C, Director of Strategy and Growth, Zweig Group

From The Zweig Letter

Five essential practices you can use to actively engage board members and forge invaluable business partners.

What shapes the future of a company at the highest level? In the dynamic landscape of corporate governance, the relationship between a CEO and the board chair is pivotal. This partnership, characterized by transparency, effectiveness, and mutual trust, serves as the cornerstone of organizational success and strategic foresight.

For CEOs, the board chair is not merely a supervisor but a crucial sounding board, helping to sharpen their thinking and refine strategies and ideas.

So, how can CEOs solidify this relationship to achieve strategic alignment? I’ll shed some light on five essential practices:

1.  Cultivate transparency and openness. A transparent relationship between the CEO and the board chair is foundational. For a CEO, openness involves candidly sharing both successes and challenges. This transparency ensures that the board chair can provide meaningful feedback and support, acting as an external mirror that reflects the CEO’s thoughts and decisions with clarity and objectivity. In addition, such openness paves the way for the board chair to mentor the CEO effectively, enhancing the CEO’s strategic thinking and leadership skills while holding the CEO accountable for his/her commitments.
2.  Build trust through performance. Trust is the currency of effective leadership and governance. For CEOs, establishing trust goes beyond personal charisma or friendships; it is demonstrated through consistent delivery and performance. The CEO must show competence and reliability in managing the company’s operations and steering its strategic direction. This performance-based trust ensures that the board has confidence in the CEO’s capabilities and decisions, which is instrumental for sustaining long-term organizational growth.
3.  Adopt a forward-looking agenda. The board’s agenda should transcend traditional fiduciary duties to include discussions that drive company performance and strategic growth. By integrating topics such as strategy, culture, and talent development into each board meeting, the dialogue shifts from risk aversion to opportunity capture. This forward-looking approach fosters a proactive rather than a reactive organizational mindset, encouraging the board and the CEO to collaboratively seek ways to leverage opportunities, drive impactful growth, and navigate future challenges.
4.  Focus on opportunity and growth. The importance of transforming the mindset from merely preventing failure to actively pursuing growth can’t be overstated. A forward-looking board does not only manage risk but also accentuates on capturing opportunities that propel the company forward. This shift in perspective is critical for developing a resilient and ambitious strategic approach that aligns with evolving market demands and opportunities.
5.  Be proactive with succession planning. One of the hallmarks of visionary leadership is the emphasis on succession planning. A proactive CEO begins developing potential successors early, identifying and nurturing internal candidates who align with the ideal CEO profile for the future. This planning is a strategic process that should be openly discussed with the board to ensure transparency and alignment with the company’s long-term goals. Such discussions not only secure the company’s future but also demonstrate the current CEO’s commitment to organizational continuity and success.

In short, elevating CEO/board collaboration is a high-value endeavor that will undoubtedly drive better performance and higher market valuations for the company. By actively engaging board members and inviting them in, the CEO transforms the board from a governance entity into an invaluable business partner. For a more comprehensive exploration of this topic, check out Zweig Group’s upcoming CEO & CSO Roundtable event in November, where we will uncover further insights together. In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you’re up for a chat. 

Ying Liu, MBA, LEED AP BD+C, is director of strategy and growth with Zweig Group. Contact her at yliu@zweiggroup.com.