Over the last three years I have been asked to facilitate a number of Board Strategy Meetings, often with organisations from the community service sector. During these sessions, I have noticed a common theme in the questions that arise. Three of these questions are;
How much should the Board do and how much should the CEO and Executive team contribute?
When should we revisit elements of strategic direction such as Vision, Mission and Values? And,
How much detail do we need to get into as a board?
This leads me to believe that across the entire community sector, these questions are being asked and perhaps, the answers aren’t always being found.
At the end of the day, I believe the most important thing is to keep things simple and focus on Purpose.
Recognise the Executive team are full time; the board is not. Allow and encourage the CEO to lead the process, but use some external and independent party to facilitate in order to allow the tough questions to be asked.
Some common approaches to allow really good practical conversations around these questions and help you find the answers, are included in the White Paper I have written, “Strategy Roadmaps: A User Guide”.
This is available for download by entering your email below. While a lot of my work is aligned with community services businesses, the White Paper is relevant to most organisations and I welcome anyone interested to please download it and let me know if you have questions or would like to have a discussion about it.
