‘GCC executives were better prepared to deal with COVID-19 crisis’

Dubai, UAE - Based on a survey conducted by Diligent, the market-leading provider of modern governance solutions, alongside their partner Hawkamah, the institute for corporate governance in the Middle East, findings show that 58 per cent of respondents felt that executives were ready to navigate through the pandemic and were more prepared whereas for boards, only 42 per cent were ready to navigate through the pandemic.

Additionally, only 22 per cent thought that the risk committees could deal with the pandemic, which highlights the importance of investing in crises training for board members in the GCC. Moreover, when it comes to the policies and procedures for company operations, 42 per cent of respondents highlighted that the procedures were flexible enough to respond to the pandemic.

This highlights that boards have a unique fiduciary responsibility in overseeing the company and during times of crisis, there may be instances where executives have to make emergency decisions that may impact the company’s priorities which are typically set by the board. Staying abreast of company developments is a balancing act that boards need to make during times of crisis.

The survey was initiated in July 2020, comprising mostly of directors and company secretaries with an aim to explore how regional boards handled decision-making during the pandemic. The survey also explored the perception of these directors and company secretaries on how their companies and organisations responded to the crisis.

Other findings include that when it comes to leadership communications, 82 per cent of boards were in constant contact with the executives, 71 per cent reported that the lockdown did not have any impact to board operations and 86 per cent of boards had ongoing communication between their board members during the lockdown.

“During these ever-changing times, with almost 100 per cent distributed work forces, getting the right information to the right people at the right time, securely, is critical to good governance and helping companies endure and thrive,” said Liam Healy, SVP and managing director at Diligent.