Governing company management
One of the key challenges for those who are new to governance is to resist the urge to get drawn into the realms of management, getting distracted from the bigger strategic picture by a desire to delve into the operational day to day of the business.
This can be particularly hard for recent business executives, for which this has likely been a core competency for many years.
However, there is sometimes a need for a board to have greater insight into an area than simply a display of key performance indicators, standard reporting commentary or a balanced scorecard.
While this can seem like you are veering into management territory, the deeper understanding of an issue, its nuances and levers can help to make sure that better decisions are made at the board table.
In my latest board meeting with The Warehouse Group, there were two such areas that were given a ‘‘deep dive’’.
The challenge for management in this situation is to prepare a deck of information that is broad enough to give true operational insight to board members on a specific topic, while not leaving the readers with a thousand pages of information to consume.
In this case, both conversations were built on well-curated and robust material, as well as good analysis of the options available.
The result was strategic direction being able to be given, supported by a depth of understanding you only get with management insight from within the business.
For one of the cases in particular, it delved into a core retail challenge: how to optimally navigate your way through the ever converging worlds of bricks and mortar and online.
There are, of course, other key factors to success in these conversations, with all board members needing to support each other to remain at a governance level.
It is also critical to keep working productively towards the final output, even with distractions aplenty in a world of detail.
In the past week I was also lucky enough to join Sir Stephen Tindall as we visited a few Warehouse stores in Auckland.
There was nothing planned, no welcoming committee, just turning up to take a look around at what is happening in the now.
The insights into consistency of process, health and safety and culture are invaluable.
One interaction that sticks in my mind was a young lady who is nearing 20 years with The Warehouse Group, having joined straight out of secondary school.
Her passion and enthusiasm for both retail and her customers was infectious.
Again, while this ventures into observing the operational, it still provides a useful lens to bring back to directional conversations at the board table.
Malcolm Phillipps was the former chief marketing officer of 2Degrees and is now taking part in the Institute of Directors’ Future Directors programme, serving on the board of The Warehouse Group for 12 months.
Future Directors, launched by Sir Stephen Tindall, Michael Stiassny and Des Hunt, is designed to develop the next generation of directors.
Phillipps is sharing his journey as the newest member of a large corporate board as part of a regular series.