Since the onset of Covid-19, corporate boards have faced a string of difficult decisions. Take the question of dividend payments: Ordinarily, the decision would be a relatively straightforward matter of applying a stated dividend policy, following past practice, or choosing an amount based on shareholder expectations and the company’s earnings for the period. But this year, with Covid-19 decimating the economy and looming uncertainty about the depth and duration of the crisis, the decision became a complex matter of weighing and balancing multiple factors — at least for companies flush enough to consider it at all.

Boardroom dividend discussions ranged over a series of considerations: the equity and symbolism of returning cash to shareholders at a time when employees were being laid off or furloughed; the potential future opportunities gained (or lost) by following (or going against) government calls for dividend cuts; the reputational and signaling effects of maintaining versus suspending or reducing the dividend; the expectations of shareholders and the proportion reliant on dividend income; the company’s cash position and strategic plans; and what would be prudent in the face of extreme uncertainty. A decision that would typically require only a few minutes of board discussion — if that — became an hour-long (or more) deliberation. And then there was the discussion about how to explain the decision in the company’s public communications.

In the end, some boards decided to maintain the dividend. Others decided to suspend or reduce it. In the U.K. and Europe, where policy makers and central banks urged cuts, the major banks and many companies followed their guidance. In the U.S., most of the large banks committed to maintaining their dividends, though authorities and experts disagreed about the wisdom of that choice. Whatever the final decision, however, the process of reaching it was far from straightforward.

This is just one example of the reality that boards are facing as a result of Covid-19. The new environment is characterized by an increasingly complex set of pressures and demands from various stakeholder groups, heightened expectations for societal engagement and corporate citizenship, and radical uncertainty about the future. These factors are complicating board decision-making and challenging the shareholder-centric model of governance that has guided boards and business leaders for the past several decades.

The shareholder-centric model, which is based on what academics call “agency theory,” appears to be giving way to a richer model of governance that puts the health and resilience of the company at its center. The pandemic has made all too clear that society depends on well-functioning companies to meet its most basic needs — for food, shelter, communication, you name it — and that companies do not exist solely to maximize returns to shareholders. It follows that boards, which by law are a company’s governing body, should be concerned not just with returns to shareholders, but with the full range of factors that enable the company to create value over time. Paradoxically, this enlarged purview does not diminish boards’ accountability to shareholders, but it does imply changes in the nature and scope of that accountability.

Whether Covid-19 is truly an inflection point for corporate governance is yet to be seen, but there is no doubt that the pandemic has challenged core premises of the agency-based model of governance in ways that have important implications for boards. In this article, I discuss several of these challenges and suggest five ways the board’s job is likely to change in the post-Covid era. As boards go through their annual self-assessment process, they will want to review their capabilities and readiness in each of these areas.