In this podcast on Boardroom Behaviours, my guest Richard Cartwright explores Bad Behaviours in the Boardroom. 

Richard is a dynamic Academic and Non-Executive trusted by the NHS, NAO, Motability, ICAEW and is an Enterprise Fellow at University of Southampton, he brings lived experience of diversity to both the classroom and into boardrooms. For his sins he is a qualified Accountant and trained within the Big 4. More importantly for me, he's a great chap, hugely knowledgeable and very able to offer listeners practical insights into bad boardroom behaviours and the cost to businesses and their communities.

You may think that all boards and board members behave well. They don't. Richard and I have experienced first hand some shocking bad boardroom behaviours, but also much more subtle yet no less destructive poor behaviours. 

So what is board? A board of directors is an executive committee that jointly supervise the activities of an organisation. The board acts as a governing body for a company or organisation. The primary goal is often said to be to protect the assets of the shareholders by ensuring an organisation's management acts on their behalf and that they get a good return on their investment in the company. Though of course these days purpose is important, as is ESG and therefore the way the ROI is created is much more important. In short there are three main areas where a board focuses attention: governance, strategic direction, and accountability. 

So given this responsibility and clarity, you might be forgiven for thinking that everyone works well together, is equally aligned, committed and so on. However,  like any team or group, their are egos, agendas, differences, personality clashes and so on that can cause problems. Poor leadership of self and others can be seen, poor decision making skills, lack of diversity and relationship skills all contribute to unhealthy environments and less than high performance in the boardroom. 

Do you remember the old adage, 'Agree or Disagree, but Commit' which I first heard from Prof Sumantra Ghoshal. In the Boardroom this might be considered key, yet too often it isn't. 

Richard may cast humour into this pot of conversation, but underlying is a very real need to improve the behaviours of boards for the sake of the businesses, stakeholders, shareholders and the wider community. 

I wonder how many people will listen to this thinking that their board - even themselves - behave well, and on reflection might find some bad behaviours that resonate. 

Richard and I have run sessions with Boards, and shown videos of board room behaviours, which has shocked participants and led to very valuable conversation and significant improvements. 

It may seem a little unfair picking on the bad behaviours but after all its poor governance that makes the headlines, rarely the great governance! 

In the second part of this two part topic, Richard and I discuss Better Boardroom Behaviours.

The aim of these podcasts is to promote thinking about the behaviours of your boards, what you do well, and not so well, and therefore what you can improve, and why. For some this might be a conversation and some simple improvements, for others you might want some help, and we'd be delighted to have a chat and offer some insights, suggestions or come and work with you to facilitate changes and improvements. 

In the meantime, have a listen to myself and Richard exploring bad boardroom behaviours. Feel free to message me with your thoughts and examples.co.uk

Look out for Part 2, Boards Behavinboardroom #boards #executive #committee #poorperformance #governance #management #shareholders #ROI #purpose #ESG #accountability

PJ Tips Podcast on Leading Business Change, with thanks to Richard Cartwright