Board Shorts Podcast

How do I get on a board? Where do I start? If you're starting out your board journey, these questions are probably going through your mind. I have a couple of answers to those questions along with some important guidance, centred around the analogy of going on a journey.

This podcast episode will help you to embark on your board career in a way that enables a successful voyage into the boardroom.

View the full show notes here: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/setting-and-calibrating-your-board-goals-ep-49/

Break into the Boardroom course: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/break-boardroom-selfpaced/

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is a growing area of focus for boards and organisations. Driven by investors seeking win-win-win outcomes for themselves, the organisation, and its broader community and environment, ESG is an area of business activity with increasing expectations and requirements for disclosure.

Inspired from my recent assignment into Australia's major banks' ESG activities and disclosures, I've identified three lessons that all boards can learn and adopt. I share these – along with some reflections from my research – in this episode.

Full show notes: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/esg-three-things-for-all-boards-to-learn-ep-48/

To be continually successful into the future, we need to constantly work on maintaining relevance (what we can refer to as 'futureproofing' ourselves).

It's difficult to know precisely what will be needed in the future; however, there are some rules (developed by tech journalist Kevin Roose) that give us a human-centred framework about how we can futureproof ourselves (and our organisations).

I explore his first rule: be surprising, social, and scarce in the context of a board career in this episode.

Full show notes: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/futureproof-your-board-career-ep-47

If you're ready to find that next board role, firstly, I encourage you to work through the steps I've laid out in episodes 44 and 45. This process that I developed (and have encapsulated in the self-paced course Break into the Boardroom) works for aspiring board members of any level: first board role or fifth board role, paid or unpaid.

There are few additional recommendations that I have for you if you're ready to take your board career to the next level that are prefect to do at this time of year (or any time really!).

For the full show notes (including links to resources to help evolve your board career), visit https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/propel-your-board-career-forward-episodes-44-45-and-46/

If you are looking to put some serious efforts into your 2022 board goals, consider enrolling into Break into the Boardroom: it's a fully online self-paced course taking you through the steps to land a board role. Enrolment includes a personal one-to-one coaching call with me where we can leverage off the work you have done in the course to support you to achieve your board goal(s).

You can find that course at https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/break-boardroom-selfpaced/

Creating and executing an intentional networking strategy that is natural and isn't wholly reliant on you having to meet people face-to-face, may be what it takes to reboot your board search strategy.

I also want you to not have to rely solely on responding to board advertisements as your primary tactic to securing a board seat. It's certainly one way to get into the boardroom but is something to be used in combination with a networking strategy.

For the full show notes (including links to resources to help you build a powerful networking strategy), visit https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/propel-your-board-career-forward-episodes-44-45-and-46/

If you are looking to put some serious efforts into your 2022 board goals, consider enrolling into Break into the Boardroom: it's a fully online self-paced course taking you through the steps to land a board role.

Enrolment includes a personal one-to-one coaching call with me where we can leverage off the work you have done in the course to support you to achieve your board goal(s).

You can find that course at https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/break-boardroom-selfpaced/

So you want to get on a board, but you're not sure how to start your board journey. 'How do I get on a board' is a common question that I receive.

To help you start out, I have three things for you to do to make your journey into the boardroom smart, smooth, and direct. For the full show notes (including links to resources to help you on your board journey), visit https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/propel-your-board-career-forward-episodes-44-45-and-46/

If you are looking to put some serious efforts into your 2022 board goals, consider enrolling into Break into the Boardroom: it's a fully online self-paced course taking you through the steps to land a board role.

Enrolment includes a personal one-to-one coaching call with me where we can leverage off the work you have done in the course to support you to achieve your board goal(s).

You can find that course at https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/break-boardroom-selfpaced/

Do you ever feel bogged down in the nitty-gritty of every tiny detail at board meetings? Does the conversation feel like its going around and around in circles?

Do you ever hear your CEO use the words "micro-managing" and "over controlling" when talking about your board? Well, it could be because your board is too concerned with the operational issues of the organisation when the focus should really be on the more important strategic matters.

Here are seven questions to help you focus discussions at the right level at your board meetings.

Full show notes: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/keeping-your-board-strategic-ep-43/

Amanda Cole is a highly accomplished leader who has forged a successful advisory board career over the past 20 years. Since starting as a volunteer board member of her professional industry association, where she quickly moved into the national Chair role, Amanda has grown her advisory board portfolio. She is currently the Chair of Sunfresh Linen and two other private advisory boards for medium-size national family businesses.

Amanda is sharing a ton of valuable information and ideas that you can take into your board career, whether you're an existing board member, aspiring board member, or looking to expand or grow your board portfolio.

Full show notes visit: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/boardroom-insider-of-the-month-with-amanda-cole-ep-42

When you get talking to board members you will very quickly discover that they all share a set of common frustrations. These usually centre around unequal workload distribution, under or no meeting preparation (i.e. haven't read the board papers), receiving too much or too little information, receiving papers too close to the meeting time, and taking too long or not long enough on the important decisions of the board. These are such common frustrations across boards and board members of all industries, for-profit and NFP organisations, and all sizes and shapes of boards. And I'm not surprised.

From my own experience it feels like we assume that because you're capable of sitting on a board that somehow you instantly and inherently know how to do that: how to be part of a team, how to prepare for meetings, how to BE a board member on this board, without anyone telling you or showing you how. And no one talks about it. You're just expected to integrate seamlessly. It's no wonder all of these frustrations arise: no one has taken the time to discuss and agree on a set of guiding principles around HOW the board will work and WHAT expectations the board and board members have and agree to work to. We're all just thrown together and expected to work it all out and have efficient and effective board meetings at the end of the day.

So, to help you help your board, I'm sharing some ideas around what to do before, during, after, and in between board meetings to help you and your board be efficient and effective. I encourage you to take these ideas, and some of your own, to your board and develop as a team your rules of engagement to ensure you're all on the same page and all operating from the same rule book.

Full show notes: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/maximising-board-meetings-ep-41/

Carolyn Grant is an advisor, author and founder of 6peas marketing and engagement; an agency creating tools, frameworks and training founded in neuroscience to provide insights to leaders to improve critical decision-making, team performance, customer advocacy and innovation.

Carolyn is the creator and publisher of the People + Science Boardroom Psychological Safety Benchmark 2020-2021 (Australia). Her research around psychological safety in the boardroom is the topic of our conversation. An HBR article reminds us that "The highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety — the belief that you won't be punished when you make a mistake."

However, Carolyn's research has shown that 45% of board members feel unsafe in the boardroom, the majority of the time. So what's driving this? How do you have the type of robust / fierce conversations necessary in the boardroom whilst maintaining psychological safety? How do you effectively balance these two factors without falling into the trap of group think and fake harmony just for the sake of not upsetting others?

Carolyn shares her perspectives from working with leaders and board members and shares what we can individually do as board members to create a psychologically safe environment AND maintain sufficient and effective discussion and debate.

Visit Carolyn's website: https://www.6peas.com.au/

View the full show notes: https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/psychological-safety-in-the-boardroom-with-carolyn-grant-ep-40