How to Be an Effective Chair

What is the role of a Chair?

Graham Bradley AM FAICD spoke on a recent AICD webinar, “a good Chair is like an orchestra conductor who guides, coaches and challenges the board to ensure all members are singing from the same song sheet.” Put simply, how to be a good Chairperson is all about helping directors become a highly effective and collaborative decision-making team that aren’t afraid to challenge each other or management.

Effective Chairs understand the importance of fostering a cooperative and respectful environment where all directors feel heard and valued. They ensure discussions are productive and decisions are reached in a thoughtful manner. Additionally, they must maintain a clear line of communication with the CEO, providing guidance and support whilst also holding them accountable. An effective Chair is a leader, facilitator and strategist, capable of steering the board and the organisation towards success.

The difference between the Chair and the CEO

Equally as important is the recognition that the Chair is not the CEO of the organisation. The Chair leads the board, not the organisation, and that means acting as a facilitator of effective board discussions, not acting as the commander-in-chief. Many former CEOs who become Chairs struggle with the difference in the two roles. Transitioning from ‘doing’ to ‘helping others to do’ takes self-awareness and practice, but ultimately an effective Chair is likely to take great satisfaction from seeing how the board arrives at a decision with little to no input of their own.

It’s been said that if you enjoy the spotlight, being a Chair isn’t the role for you. How to be an effective Chair is all about creating conditions for others to shine, often described as restrained, non-domineering and leaving room for others. Effective Chairs focus on processes and people, while CEOs focus on getting things done. Both are important but fundamentally different roles.

Insights on how to be an effective Chair

How to be an effective Chairperson requires dedicated focus across some of the following key areas:

• Guiding the board to function effectively as a forum for collective oversight and decision-making
• Representing the views of the board to the organisation, shareholders and key stakeholders
• Creating focused meeting agendas that prioritise key areas of focus and allow time for unstructured discussion
• Showing restraint and leaving room for all directors to speak
• Ensuring that board meetings start and finish on time
• Summing up key points of a discussion, identifying emerging consensus as well as points of difference
• Helping the board to track its progress towards a collective position on key issues
• Taking committees seriously and recognising that they are where the board gets most of its work done
• Encouraging self-awareness and reflection across the board

Attributes effective Chairs display

There are certain attributes that an effective Chair commonly displays. These include:

• Authority and humility: Chairs need to display authority in the eyes of directors, executives and key stakeholders. This allows them to guide the board through difficult decisions. Yet, they also need to let others shine. Effective Chairs match their authority with humility, keeping the focus on processes and people.
• Commitment and detachment: A Chair’s presence should be felt as little as possible – but as much as necessary. The interests of the company should always be put first. However, this needs to be balanced by keeping sufficient distance, as the Chair needs to be able to look at the company with almost an outsider’s perspective at times, leaving room for the executives to manage operations.
• Incisiveness and patience: Chairs need to be attentive to the ideas of other board members, since patience is a major component of effective decision-making. Good Chairs don’t rush to get things done quickly, but focus on getting things done properly. They strive for effectiveness over efficiency.

Three responsibilities of an effective Chair

There are a number of responsibilities that make up an effective Chair. Three key areas we’ve identified are below.

Chairing meetings

It may seem obvious, but a good Chairperson must be able to chair meetings. Most of the work of the board is done in meetings, and the ability to manage those meetings effectively is key. This includes planning the agenda, ensuring balanced input from all members, ensuring clarity about decisions and actions agreed, and following up to make sure agreed actions are carried out in line with board decisions.

• Shape the agenda: Creating a focused meeting agenda is crucial. Effective Chairs plan their agendas well to ensure that priority items receive the attention they deserve and that meetings are both efficient and purposeful.
• Time keeping: Allocating the right amount of time to each agenda item is vital. If items run over time, effective Chairs adapt their plans accordingly. It’s also their responsibility to start and finish meetings on time.
• Sharing the discussion: Effective Chairs engage everyone in discussion, ensuring a wide range of views are canvassed before making a decision. By engaging all directors, they foster a sense of collegiality, shared responsibility, and ownership of decisions.
• Summarising: Effective Chairs sum up the key points of a discussion, identifying emerging consensus for the group, as well as points of difference. They use these summaries to help the board track its progress towards a collective position on an issue.

Coaching skills

As the leader of the board, the Chair’s role is to get the best from every board member and from the CEO. The role of the Chair is to conduct the orchestra, rather than play the loudest tune. Coaching is a useful way of supporting ongoing learning and development of each board member, thus creating synergy and ensuring all board members are contributing as much as they can.

Measuring effectiveness

A good Chair will be focused on measuring the effectiveness of not only their output, but that of the board as a whole. One way to do this is through board performance reviews. A good board evaluation questionnaire will be able to provide valuable feedback about the board’s dynamics, the Chair’s leadership style, and how effectively board meetings are conducted. Not only do these evaluations help to ensure an effective Chair, but they also contribute to the overall success of the board. BoardOutlook’s purpose-built board evaluation software is a valuable tool to support the Chair in determining whether the board is as effective as it can be, and therefore whether they in turn are being an effective leader of the board.

Are you an effective Chair?

How to be an effective Chair requires a unique balance of leading and facilitating. The role extends beyond just managing the board’s operations; they must also set the tone for its culture and behaviour. This includes fostering a collaborative environment, guiding the board to function collectively and effectively, representing the board to external stakeholders and ensuring that meetings are productive and timely. Ultimately, an effective Chair is one who measures their effectiveness and the board’s as a whole, continually striving for improvement and success.

Sources:

• https://www.aicd.com.au/leadership/types/business-leaders/how-to-be-an-effective-chair.html