Importance of vision
Malcolm Phillipps is on The Warehouse Group’s board, appointed as part of the Institute of Directors’ Future Director programme.
When thinking about the different areas that company governance encompasses, there are a multitude of director responsibilities that come with being on a board.
These range from providing guidance to management, ensuring the health and safety of staff, balancing risk and shareholder reward, while also having a clear vision of where an organisation is going in the future.
While it is a given that all aspects of governance are important, it is the element of future vision which has always interested me.
Nothing fascinates me more than observing companies that have demonstrated true evolution over time, with the foresight and ability to manage an entity in the here and now, while guiding the business along the path to success in the future – like the story of Netflix, which has gone from an American DVD mail order company in 1998 to having 81 million content-streaming subscribers around the globe in 2016.
Another example is Fitbit, which has continued to lead the way in the extremely fast, ever changing world of wearable technology.
Fitbit has gone from one wearable fitness device which tracked your steps, to a range of high-end products, to now providing a corporate fitness programme to over 70 of Fortune 500’s top companies.
Now while only eight people at a time can have the opportunity of sitting on the board of a company like Netflix or Fitbit, there are a wide range of businesses here in New Zealand that face similar challenges and countless opportunities.
As I joined my second board meeting for The Warehouse Group last week, it was great to see the board dedicate specific, high-quality time to discussing their future vision.
It led me to reflect more broadly on how to achieve success in this space with effective governance.
My observation is that a board’s ability to formulate a vision for the future is about leveraging the diverse and complementary talents that sit around the table.
With so many areas of business evolving at such speed, no one person can cover off all the different perspectives, opportunities and threats that could impact a business.
For a board to achieve a strong vision for the future, it relies on embracing diversity (age, gender, ethnicity, industry experience) in directors’ backgrounds, views and skills.
Then, creating an environment, with appropriate time, materials and facilitation to allow strong direction to be formulated and communicated to the executive team.