Change is afoot in boardrooms. Some of it has been catalysed by large corporate scandals, which have led to growing demands on governance, oversight, and compliance. However, the more forward-thinking chairmen and boards are leading with optimism, not fear. They are tapping into the growing awareness of the value of cognitive diversity. This shift is helping shape boardroom conversations beyond compliance to important topics of strategy, innovation, talent, and competitiveness. The days when boardrooms were filled with people who had spent their careers and their weekends and holidays together are fading into the past. With this heterogeneity comes the need to be a skilled boardroom operator, one who can navigate the modern boardroom.
What might that entail?
- Can you manage interpersonal relationships with colleagues whom you might see may be 6 or 7 times a year but with whom you need to debate and discuss and disagree issues and then arrive at a consensus?
- Are you truly inclusive in your approach? Can you work out how best to handle the boardroom dynamics between colleagues with very different backgrounds in terms of education, experience, or social class, where you may have to learn to be truly inclusive in your approach to differences beyond differences of opinion?
- Can you disagree without being disagreeable? Can you educate a colleague on a topic of your expertise which may be new to them, but do so respectfully and quickly?
- Can you retain your independence without becoming a sore thumb? Can you check yourself if you are falling into groupthink? How do you keep growing your own knowledge and experience?
Drawing on my nearly decade-long experience in boardrooms, I can vouch for the value of all these skills and the need to keep them sharpened. TheBoardroom Africa’s Certificate in Modern Board Direction is just the ticket for board directors who care about these dynamics.
About the author
Shefaly yogendra
CMBD, Programme Faculty
Shefaly Yogendra, PhD is an internationally experienced strategist with a focus on sustainable growth, inclusive leadership and emerging technologies, which underpin her work in shaping boardroom and executive conversations.
Shefaly is a non-executive director of two LSE-listed investment funds where she chairs remuneration and nomination committees respectively. She is also an independent governor and vice chair of London Metropolitan University where she chairs the audit and risk committee and earlier chaired the governance committee. On her boards, Shefaly leads conversations on risk, cyber and data issues, digital marketing, and inclusion and diversity. She is currently advisor to and incoming ESG advisory board member of a Luxembourg fund on forestry and sustainable agriculture.
