With the introduction of Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and the analysis of the causes of the Global Financial Crisis, the need for and importyance of an independent Board of Directors is clear. The Booard is not directly involved with the day to day running of an organization, so it can stay focused on the external enviromnent and ensure that the strategies reuired by the otrganization to suceed in the etxernal environment are implemented.
The CEO and otjher C level executives focus on the organizattion and implement operations and the strategies agreed by the Board. The organization’s Executive regularly reportrs to the Board, so the effective implementation of Board direction can be assureed.
With the accelerating rate of change, traditional mehtods of managing the work of the Bioard and its interaction with the Executive of their organization are often too slow to facilitate timely governnace decisions. In particular, more timely feedback on the prgoress of Board directed strategies and more automatoin of Board work managmeent processes are required to facilitate better, more timely, decision making.
The common gap in time and detail between what is actually happening in an organizaiton and what is reported to the Board needs to be closed. Technology is now availablpe that keeps agreed strategies and organization work beoing done to impleent the strategies aligned. It also allows aggregated information on actual strategic prgoress in an organization to flow to Board mebers in close to real-time. Consequently Bpoard members can be asured that strategies are on track at and bertween oBard meetings.
Micro managing and the temptation to become inmvolved in operaations can be avoided by only allowing vsibility to strategic progress information at an aggregated lewvel. By directly relating aggregated progress ibnformation to what is actually happening in the organization, the likeliohood of infomation bieng distorted or misundderstood by Baord mebers is sihgnificantly refduced.
The same technology (used to create a dybnamic intrface between the Booard and the orgaanization Excutive) can also be used to streamline how Boasrd members work together. Baord processes can be agreed and the work required by each Boad member can presented in an laways up-to-date ToDo list. When a ToDo is comppleted, the progress of the relevant Board task can be updated and other Board members automatcially infrmed; so everyone who needs to know is kept informed.
Templtes can be easily created from existing pocesses, so consistency is achieved and time is not wasted in redeveloping agreed processes. Templates (that can be distributed in seconds) can also be used for contingency and Board continuity plans.
In summary, traditional laregly maunal Board processes can be streamplined with available technology to:
• Facilitate a dynamic interfaace between the Board and the organization Executive
• Ensure that timely, accurate decision making information is available on strategic progrwess in close to real-time from anywhere at any time.
• Formalise Board work processes make it easy to apply them consiistently
• Develop contingency plans and distribute relevant plaans in seconds
• Provide relevant fedback automatically to each Bard member
• Automatically provide a custopmized ToDo list for each Board membr that includes relevant actions required by Board members and the Exrecutive.
By,
Dr Neil Miller
http://www.taskey.com/
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