VISION & STRATEGY www.ceotodaymagazine.com 45 themselves seriously, particularly in the current challenging business environment. The board must prepare for all eventualities from unexpected departures, such as due to illness; or not being up to the task in hand post an annual review of their performance; through to the dates they can plan for, such as reaching retirement age. The unexpected departure of the CEO, for example, could be very damaging to the organisation. Also, there’s always a certain amount of risk when recruiting a new CEO, which iswhy the chair should use the start of the year as an opportunity to task the board to either create or re-visit the succession plan to help maintain business continuity. Effective induction process The only way new directors can make a valuable contribution to the board as quickly as possible is by bringing the onboarding process into the 21st century. It’s the responsibility of the chairman to take the lead in this by helping to devise and ensure the implementation of a bespoke 18–24-month “journey of learning”, which includes governance training and a buddy system. Gone are the days of dumping a pile of reading material on a new director and expecting them to hit the ground running. The chair must also continuously strive to improve the induction process based on objective feedback. Those chairmen who want to preside over a highly effective board to which they add significant value in 2022 must recognise these factors and make them their resolutions for the new year. not have taken place for a couple of years because of the pressure on the top team caused by the health emergency. Chairmen must take responsibility to ensure that they, the board and the CEO are ‘fit for the future’. They always need to be asking, does the board have the composition, leadership, capability, capacity and culture to deliver success for the organisation? This requires them to take the lead in the areas of reviews, succession planning processes and recruitment to the board. All on the board derive substantial benefit from a structured and systematic performance review with clear accountability and follow up. Also, such an assessment might prompt the board to consider if a different director is now needed to improve effective decision making and help drive business success. The chair needs selfawareness Chairmen must have selfawareness. They need to be honest and ask themselves if they are the appropriate leader for the board today and in the future. They need to answer key questions, such as: “Are they leading the board in a way that’s adding value?” And “is their approach enabling or constraining the work of the board?”. Chairmen must seriously consider if they require additional training, mentoring, experience or development. Only then can they ensure what they bring to board leadership remains relevant and truly value-adding. Succession planning for the CEO and themselves It’s an effective chair that takes successionplanning for theCEOand “The most important relationship in the governance system is between the chairman and the CEO because it has a huge impact on the performance of the company.”
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