NED Discussion: Challenging vs. Supporting the Executive Team

Boards must strike a delicate balance between challenging and supporting the executive team to provide maximum value to the organisation. On one hand, boards have a duty to ask tough questions, and hold the executive team accountable. On the other hand, by providing support, coaching and guidance, boards can tap on their collective wisdom and make executives more effective. How should boards seek to achieve strategic alignment and build strong relationships when working with the executive team?

Format

This is a peer group discussion aimed at board members or senior execs at board level facilitated by Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings. In our experience, participants get value from this format in three ways:

1. Benchmarking: Gain insight into the CEO/executive team dynamic with the board and how that relationship is managed in other organisations. Contextualise and benchmark your organisation’s performance and identify any blind spots in your current approach.
2. Networking: Meet other like-minded board operators and expand your board-level network in a structured discussion environment.
3. Learning: Implement practical insights for your organisation by drawing on the experiences of board peers. Adapt the strategies that have worked well and be more conscious of the pitfalls encountered.

Agenda

Preparation is not necessary. However, participants will be asked to introduce themselves and share experiences around these questions:

1. Who is your role model as a board member when it comes to challenging the executive team in a constructive manner? What made them so good? (e.g. language, timing, context etc.)
2. In episode 27 of Enter the Boardroom, Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne (Founder, Genius Foods) talked about how NEDs should have realistic expectations about the dynamics of the business in order to balance support and challenge for the exec in a productive way. Does your own experience (on a board or as an exec at board level) relate to that observation?

Event details

Location: Sessions are held on Nurole's Gather virtual networking space

Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, 25 July 2023

Moderator:

Oliver Cummings is Nurole CEO and has 10+ years experience as a board member, currently as a Board Advisor to Thomas’s London Day Schools. He began his career as a private equity investor, working at Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and BXR Partners, where he was the youngest ever director. He has been Nurole CEO since 2016, helping it rapidly grow from a startup to over one thousand board placements a year.