Amari Managed Services

5 tips for building a strong corporate board

Chada Mutambara — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 07:57:57 +0000

Many companies put off the task of assembling an effective board until they run into trouble.

Behind every great CEO is a great board, and I’ve noticed that startup founders tend to put off the task of building strong boards. Consider successful tech companies like Amazon AMZN 0.66% and Google GOOG 1.73% that built their boards early on. They’re more an exception than the rule, however; more often than not, companies find that there are few, if any, consequences until they run into trouble.

Many boards have gotten into trouble when they think they answer only to the CEO.

After years of advising startups on board management and executive search, I believe that the only true role of the board is to hire and fire the CEO. After all, great boards understand that they are accountable to each other and to company shareholders. Also, great boards are diverse – in thought, background, and perspectives. The statistics bear repeating: Just 10% of Silicon Valley directors are women, and the percentage of VC-backed startups with a female founder or CEO is even lower.

So here are some practical tips for assembling a great board.

Know the company’s vision. Where do you want the company to go? Define what you need the board to do to achieve those goals. Keep that in mind as you consider and define the attributes, skills, and experiences that you need of your board members.

Seek the right skills. Create a simple grid combining attributes that actually exist in the market. Draft a table with all the desired aspects of a “final” board. Fill in the table with prospective ideas for each director, ranking each in terms of depth or fit and whether that person can be recruited. Keep this list current, fresh, and ongoing, and make it an active item of discussion at board meetings.

Develop role and responsibilities for members. As Jim Collins says, “Do you have the right people in the right seats on the bus?” It’s never too early to have committees or key areas of responsibility. Do you have the best head of audit, compensation etc.? Who are the lead directors that you as CEO can rely on in each critical area?

Build a culture and invite debate. Foster a culture of open feedback and independence. You want different opinions and perspectives to help you consider alternatives. Consider the culture and interaction you want from your board: passionate and intense debate, or cerebral and deliberative? You want to recruit a board that pushes you, makes you uncomfortable and challenges conventional wisdom. At the same time, you want a board and not an operating committee – so setting boundaries is important.

Break through your comfort zone. Boards tend to reach for what’s familiar and comfortable, which results in homogeneity. Knowing that, you should strive for diversity of opinion and not be afraid to go against the grain. Keeping that top of mind will help you be open-minded to alternatives you would not have considered in the first place.

Juliet de Baubigny is a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. She advises the firm’s portfolio companies on all aspects of company building including executive leadership, recruiting, compensation, corporate governance and team-building.

Four levels of workplace politics

Chada Mutambara — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 04:45:57 +0000

ASK most people about workplace politics, and they’ll say they prefer to avoid them. And yet most also know that developing political competence is not a choice — it’s a necessity. But do we all need to play games every day at work? Not necessarily.

The degree to which you engage in politics depends on where you work. Consider these four levels of politics in organisations:

1. In minimally political companies what you see is largely what you get. Standards for promotions and expectations for managing and leading are made clear. There is a sense of camaraderie. Rules are occasionally bent and favours granted, but underhanded forms of politics are avoided. This is the type of organisation in which those with little understanding of or interest in politics — the purists among us — can thrive.

2. Moderately political organisations also operate largely on widely understood, formally sanctioned rules. Political behaviour, where it does exist, is low-key or deniable. Conflicts are unusual, as there is a team-player mentality. This environment works for people who’d rather not engage in politics, but who are capable of managing or living with pockets of political activity.

3. The highly political arena is one in which not understanding politics and being unwilling to engage in some of its more surreptitious forms can exact a price. Formally sanctioned rules are only invoked when convenient to those with power. Who you know is likely to be more important than what you know. Working in organisations like this can be very stressful. Political street fighters who “read the tea leaves” and “know the ropes” do far better than those who don’t keep abreast of the games being played.

4. The most virulent forms of business politics occur in pathologically political organisations. Nearly every goal is achieved by going around people or formal procedures. People distrust each other — and for good reason. Out of necessity, people spend a good deal of time watching their backs and far less gets done than might otherwise be achieved.

So, how do you know which type of organisation you’re working in, and how do you develop the skills to survive there? Start by identifying the type of arena in which you work, as well as your own personal style. Is there a good match? If you’re a purist working in a highly political environment, for example, you need to become more street smart or move on. If it’s not in your nature to be political, then the latter may be the better choice.

(Adapted from Office Politics Isn’t Something You Can Sit Out, at HBR.org.)

Six ways managers can help workers be less stressed

Chada Mutambara — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 17:37:12 +0000

THESE days, everyone seems overwhelmed and way too busy. But even if your team members have a lot on their plates, they don’t have to sacrifice their health or happiness.

It’s on you, the manager, to help your people cut through the chaos, reduce stress and make sure your team can accomplish its most important work. Here’s how:

1. Focus your team on the things that matter: Begin by asking, “What does the company expect from my team that no other group can accomplish?” Don’t answer this alone in your office. Involve your team. Once you all agree on your team’s purpose, it becomes the guiding principle for how everyone should spend their time and the litmus test for what work team members should take on and what they should let go.

2. Edit their workload: Liane Davey, vice-president of team solutions at Knightsbridge Human Capital and author of You First, advises managers to evaluate each project based on whether or not it’s in “the sweet spot” — what you’ve previously identified as your group’s unique purpose, what they’re good at and what’s important to the larger goals of the organisation.

3. Schedule uninterrupted work: Encourage your team to set aside an hour or more each morning for quiet, proactive work. By making it a group goal, you increase your collective focus and prevent backsliding.

4. Fix your meetings: Establish no more than three objectives, decide who needs to be there, set limits on the duration of meetings and use the last 15 minutes to clarify how the participants will move forward. Above all, make sure a meeting is really necessary.

5. Set limits on e-mail: Limit after-hours e-mails to urgent issues.

6. Lead by example: When setting new norms for your team, you need to walk the talk yourself.

(Adapted from Help your overwhelmed, stressed-out team, at HBR.org.)