This quote by Tim Saunders, former Chief Solutions Officer (?) of Yahoo, best selling author and key note speaker; advocates that leaders should deepen their relationships as they expand their collaborative spaces to solve the toughest challenges.

Board Members are often the prized network of a CEO and upon whom the CEO relies upon for collaboration in order to unlock an even larger networth of networks to solve current and future challenges for an organisation. Indeed, one of the roles of any Board Member is to offer support and unlock opportunities for management and this is gaining even more prominence.

When a CEO and Management put together a Board, one of the decision factors include identifying the organisations stakeholders, defined as ‘any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation’s objective’; and mapping them according to their level of interest and influence. Once this is done, CEOs then identifies Board Members who, should any need arise, would be able to speak up or have knowledge of the key stakeholders and represent these interests, both inside and outside the Boardroom.

The The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (formerly ICSA) in 2017 gave a perspective on how to include the stakeholder voice in boardroom decision making and the following are some of the highlights in that report:

i.Boards should identify, and keep under regular review, who they consider their key stakeholders, as well as determine which stakeholders they need to engage with directly, as opposed to relying solely on information from management.
ii. When adding in new members, boards should identify what stakeholder expertise is needed in the boardroom and decide whether that needs an actual seat at the table.
iii. The chair, supported by the company secretary should keep under review the adequacy of the training received by all directors on stakeholder-related matters and as well ensure the stakeholder map is refreshed.
iv. Boards should ensure that appropriate engagement with key stakeholders is taking place and that it is suitable for each stakeholder.
v. The board should report to its shareholders on how it has taken the impact on key stakeholders into account when making decisions, and include this in its annual report.
vi. The board should provide feedback to those stakeholders with whom it has engaged, as an act of accountability.

As Andriof and Waddock (2002) stated ‘Stakeholder theory has moved away from an entirely corporate-centric focus in which stakeholders are viewed as subjects to be managed towards more of a network-based, relational and process-orientated view of company stakeholder engagement’

Speak to Akira Consult Limited today for guidance on how to ensure that the Board gets a better understanding of its stakeholders and how in doing so, it can grows the organisation’s networth.