Preparing for the Board – Getting Board Fit!

Course Overview

Preparing for the Board – Getting Board Fit!

Three practical and interactive workshops that will show you how to understand boards and maximise your impact on them.

You’ll learn how to grow as a leader, how to work effectively within your organisations board structure and define your role so that you have the most impact within that boardroom setting.

Session 1 – Understanding Your Board – Where do I fit? 
10 – 11:30 am

Learn the functions of boards, their objectives, and the controls they work under.  You will look at the challenges and duties a director is expected to overcome and fulfil as they meet the strategic objectives of their board in a world of new competencies and external change. From this, you will start to develop the best fit for yourself on your board so that you can start to influence the board decisions within your organisation. Answering the question: ‘How do I fit?’

Session 2 – Getting Board Ready: How do I influence?
1 – 2:30 pm

You will get to know the differences between leadership and management at Board level. Identify the intelligence sources and ‘boardroom capital’ needed to make decisions and how individuals influence these decisions. Answering the question: ‘How do I influence?’

Session 3 – Getting Board Fit: How do I have a positive impact?
3:30 – 5:00 pm

You will learn how to develop your role and personality on a board.  You will be given guidance on how to plan for a board meeting; how to identify and mitigate risk and take part in a Board simulation to experience the various skills which drive positive impact on board level decisions.  Answering the question: ‘Am I Board Fit?’

Course Content

1. Understanding Your Board – Where do I fit? 

The board is another function within a business.  It is a place where decisions are made based on the information available.  It is the strategic head of the management structure of many but not all organisations.  Presenting to or attending boards is another level in communicating within an organisation.

Whether you are at the point of delivering your first presentations to a board or looking to join the board as a director or joining an advisory board, you’re going to want to build an understanding of how boards function and how you fit into them.

We will cover:

• What is a board and how to identify the type of board I am working with?
• How to identify where you fit within that board
• How to build influence within that board

2. Getting Board Ready: How do I influence?

Any business needs to develop its leadership team.  Businesses with boards thrive when they develop their managers to join their boards. Understanding the difference between leadership and management is crucial to having a good board experience.  The next step is to understand the interaction between individuals and boards and the value different skill sets and personalities can bring to the ‘boardroom capital’ and its group dynamic. Essentially new board attendees need to understand the dynamics at play within their board.

We will cover:

• The differences between leadership and management
• The essential individual skills, personalities and ‘boardroom capital’ needed, and how they should work together within a board.
• Understanding the dynamics at work within a board of individuals.

3. Getting Board Fit: How do I have a positive impact?

Getting ready for your first board can be daunting.  This interactive session will help you develop your ‘board proposition’ and what makes you ‘stand out’ in a world of new competencies.  You will get an understanding of risk and its mitigation and bring your board personality to life (police, data junkie, architect, or pilot), with a Board simulation.  A safe space to practice your ‘board fitness’!

We will cover:

• Risks faced by a board and their mitigation
• Acting as a board member, the personalities, and your proposition
• Bringing a board meeting to life – a simulation!

Course Leaders