What’s the old saying… The more things change, the more they stay the same? As Jenn Lim, happiness expert and CEO of Delivering Happiness, so succinctly puts it, “We’ve experienced so much change, stress, and uncertainty over the last three years, our minds (and bodies) are still trying to process what’s happened. And the truth is all of these ‘new’ trends are just shining a light on old problems in real-time ways, confirming that how we work isn’t working for everyone anymore.”
Nor does how we respond to shifts and changes within our organizations. Traditionally, people issues were dealt with in a highly commoditized way—and it “worked” because it was a buyer’s market, so to speak. Those days are gone. As leaders try to navigate these tumultuous waters, though, boards often feel at sea in terms of their own role.
How do boards today keep their “nose in, and fingers out” in seasons of significant change?
Disrupting the World of Work
What trends are bringing upheaval to the traditional work world? To recap:
- The Right to Disconnect. The unspoken rule that people should manage a few emails and calls in the evening after work is, in many places, now blatantly against the rules. Once people finish their workday, their time belongs to them.
- Bare Minimum Monday. The old mindset measured productivity only by tasks accomplished, but the motivation behind Bare Minimum Monday is for the modern understanding of productivity. Rather than rushing towards burnout, the goal is to do only the urgent tasks and use the rest of the time to set up for the week in a balanced way.
- Quiet Quitting. This doesn’t involve quitting a job; it means pulling back engagement and emotional investment. This employee will do what their job description tells them to do. No more. No less. Again, this is in opposition to the societal pressure to pour time and energy you don’t have into a job with the (often empty) promise that doing so will pay off in the long run.
- Four Day Work Week. As employers respond to pressure for more flexibility, a four-day workweek is becoming more popular. There is a lot of debate about this, and companies may favour one mechanism over another. Bottom line: there is increasing evidence that shows positive benefits for both employers and employees when there is a better balance between work and personal life.
These movements have a major theme connecting them: They resist traditional work structures. What’s the board member’s role in governing an evolving workplace? Where should your nose be?
The answer is constant, even in times of change: Direct and Protect.
It’s not your job to tell the CEO how to do their job; but it is within your role to:
- Ask how they are doing
- Have ongoing conversations around change
- Consider the immediate and potential impact of change on the organizational culture
If we’re not protecting the organization by confirming there is a healthy culture that’s built on purpose, we are not doing our job as a board.
That job isn’t saying or dictating what the culture should be and being the architect of that structure, but rather to confirm that it is working. That it is serving to retain employees and to empower teams to express the talents and gifts inside them. We focus on what is being done and let management focus on how.
So… How do we, as boards, focus on the what?
Maintaining Balance In the Shifting Sands of the Workplace
First and foremost: Start believing the best. When we believe our role is to uncover what’s wrong in our organization, we are essentially blind to what’s right or how to shore up areas of weakness. Believe the best and make space for leadership to explain the good work they are doing. With that mindset:
Ask questions.
Invite the CEO to share their thoughts, plans, and experiences. Initiative conversations of interest versus conversations of direction. (Remember, boards direct on what, not how).
Take the pulse.
Use the Ascent Model as a guide. It comes back to the four peaks of this model: Collaborative Culture, Leadership Accountability, Strategic Momentum, and Talent Magnetism. Healthy boards monitor without meddling. Ideally, they look at reports in three streams:
- Management Reports (i.e. directly from leadership)
- Third Party Reports/Tools (i.e. quantitative data)
- Board Inspection (e.g. a board looks into a concrete area, such as confirming they have directors’ liability insurance every year)
This helps provide a 360 view of what’s going on in the organization and how leaders/teams are navigating change. Empowered with that information, board members can discern how best to support the organization.
Focus on risk.
Connect conversations to the board’s concerns regarding risk. For example, you might say, “I read an article on how 5 million people are leaving their jobs in the US, and I’m alarmed that this could happen. Could there be a wave that hits us and suddenly we’re short on people? What are you doing that works well in this new reality? How are we moving forward?”
Boards need to be proactive in framing these conversations in a way that engages the CEO and encourages them to work with the board to confirm that you’re actively building a culture that works for the company. Ahead of the next board meeting, give everyone an article to read; have them think about a few topics or themes that are especially vital and share about. Whatever it is you do, make sure you keep your finger on the pulse—but out of management!
Take a high level approach.
Culture tends to fall under the umbrella of risk. Boards should implement audit and risk committees, and that subset would lead to conversations around culture and the factors that threaten to destabilize the workplace. It is imperative that the board and CEO talk about what they’re learning and what they’re planning from a strategic standpoint so there are no surprises on either side.
Normalize these conversations—and change.
It should become normal and comfortable to engage in these types of conversations. You are still in “protect” mode. Further, boards must be aware of the necessity of breaking out of “business as usual.” We must all move forward with intention. Remember, the traditional way of working doesn’t work for everyone anymore, nor does the traditional way of governing through change.
Nose in, fingers out.
Moving Past an Either/Or Approach
Is organizational health an either/or game? Are you either healthy or hitting your targets? No. It can’t be. Think about a win/lose situation: I’m your neighbour and you want to throw a party. You come over and talk to me about how to make it work for both of us. We figure out a win/win. That’s not usually how it works, is it? Usually, the party is a raging success (for you!), and at 3:00am, I’m threatening to call the police. And when the police come, it’s a lose for you. Now we all lose.
It’s the same in the work world. If people think they are in an unhealthy culture, then they feel it’s a case of management winning and employees losing. But it’s really lose/lose. They will quietly quit, tune out, leave. You will start to lose too. Organizations do not compromise on results by focusing on people, including a healthy thriving board. This is the path towards a win/win even in—especially in—times of consequential change.
Boards need to be involved in the culture conversation, lest anyone labour under the illusion that culture is not strategic. It is, and we have to play this smart. The people in your care aren’t going to wait for the organization to catch up; they will find one who already has. As a board, your role to direct and protect is proactive. So start the conversation today. It’s time.
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