At Leapwise, we’re lucky to draw on a wide network of experienced Associates, ranging from leadership consultants and senior ex-government officials to former operational police leaders who can support our client work.
In this associates blog, one member of our network shares their expertise directly with you. Suzanne Jacob OBE is a former CEO of UK domestic abuse charity SafeLives and a highly experienced ex-Home Office official who worked on national security issues, including around the 2012 London Olympics (for which she was awarded her OBE). She currently sits as non-executive director on the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) board alongside other board roles.
Suzanne offers a unique insight into what it takes to build governance boards that work well for your organisation, even as strategic challenges feel more complex than ever.
Making Your Board Work for Your Organisation – Leapwise Associate Suzanne Jacob’s View
My experience on boards has been enormously varied; I’ve seen how things are done at almost every different level. Early on as a Home Office official, I did what I still think is the toughest role of the lot: running the secretariat. Your influence can be enormous. Anyone who’s worked on a board will know that the ‘basics’ of scheduling, note-taking, and chasing up actions are fundamental to making things work properly.
Later in my civil service career, I was part of the first National Crime Agency Board where we tried to build and develop a whole new national law enforcement agency. At domestic abuse charity SafeLives, where I served as a director, deputy CEO and then CEO, I saw how a board of trustees can play their part in supporting a public safety mission.
Today, I’m a NED for the IOPC (which manages complex police misconduct cases) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (dealing with everything from anti-discrimination work to standardising the length of grass on test-level cricket pitches.) I’m also a trustee for Crimestoppers. All of that’s to say: I’ve seen a lot of governance boards and, while none of them are the same, there are common themes I’ve identified to making a board work for you.
5 Rules for an Effective Governance Board
This doesn’t cover everything. But here are 5 rules that I believe are crucial to making a governance board truly effective.
Lesson 1: Clear objectives are critical
As in many other areas of professional life, setting clear objectives is absolutely essential for your Board. This begins with that overarching purpose: what is this governance body for? What are its key priority areas? And, crucially, what is beyond the scope, so that you don’t clutter meetings with things that can be handled elsewhere?
This extends to how you conduct individual meetings too. I’ve occasionally sat in board meetings which feel like ‘agenda filler’, rather than being focused on key decisions or areas where the organisation wants the input of its NEDs. That’s obviously disrespectful. First: your board members are only there because they want to make a difference. But it’s also a real missed opportunity for scrutiny, challenge, or fresh perspectives that could improve things.
Lesson 2: A ‘shallow’ approach to diversity is a mistake
In my years working across boards, I’ve seen an increasing and much-needed focus on diversity of membership. However, it’s essential to avoid a superficial approach to this. I’ve often been in conversations where people aim to diversify the board, but their intentions are limited to having different faces on a website. This superficial approach isn’t a fair way to treat people, and it also doesn’t yield the genuine diversity of views needed around the table to challenge the status quo.
A genuinely diverse board can manifest in various ways. At the very least, it should include individuals from a broader range of backgrounds than those traditionally represented on boards. But true diversity goes beyond mere representation; it involves integrating different perspectives. For instance, in sports governance, if your ‘playing population’ is demographically very narrow, the Board must do more than just mirror that existing user base. It must bring in voices that push for wider inclusion and represent communities who aren’t the ‘usual customer’ – but should be!
Lesson 3: Lived experience can be transformational
At SafeLives, I had the privilege of hearing people candidly sharing their experience of domestic abuse, with these astonishingly raw perspectives also sometimes heard at board level. These were some of the most striking experiences I’ve ever had on boards in my career.
People with lived experience can identify issues that might not be apparent to your usual Board member. But it can also take you to heart of purpose. It can remind everyone of the fundamental reasons for their involvement in the Board and why making it work is so important. Boards can sometimes start to feel mechanical amid busy schedules, constant meetings, and dense papers. Lived experience can help to address that uncomfortable sensation and restore focus to the people you organisation is trying to serve.
Lesson 4: A Board needs ‘rhythm’
That risk of feeling mechanical is dangerous, but when it comes to the basic processes around a board, you do need a structured approach. When I was running the secretariat in my first board, I learned that having a ‘rhythm’ to when you shared board papers, as well as their contents and style, was vital.
As a board, you want to focus as much energy as possible on the complex strategic issues at hand. Time spent trying to figure out what a paper’s focused on or when the full set of documents will arrive inevitably detracts from that. A well-functioning ‘board machine’ not only makes it easier for your members to be as focused as possible, it also encourages them to go above and beyond. If your board is the slickest governance body someone engages with, they’re more likely to volunteer for those added extras.
Lesson 5: Trust is everything
The author Stephen Covey wrote that: “Change moves at the speed of trust.” It’s a quote that’s really stuck with me ever since I first heard it. With all the language of governance, oversight, action logs and minutes, it’s easy to forget that a Board is almost always just a small group of people trying to provide the best possible advice they can. To make that work, there needs to be a deep well of trust within the Board and with the organisation it oversees.
In my opinion, it’s much easier to build that trust through basic, in-person connection. The Board meeting where you can see each other in the flesh, shake hands, share a coffee, and socialise before or after is the one that breaks down those barriers. In the same way, a Board member who goes to the frontline (whether that’s a custody suite or a cricket match!) will be building trust much more effectively than they ever could on a Teams call. With that trust embedded, the change follows far more quickly.
Strategic vision in the modern world
It’s often said – and it’s probably true – that leading an organisation today feels more challenging and complex than ever. Whether that’s because we really are in a period of unprecedented change or just because we’re more interconnected now, strategic leadership is indeed harder than ever.
I’ve seen that a really effective board can help you see the wood for the trees and deal with emerging challenges. But my overarching insight is that this super strategic vision is still reliant on those basics. The right people, working together in a trusted, constructive and purposeful way as part of a board, absolutely will make a difference for those your organisation is trying to serve.
To learn more about what drives Board effectiveness – including Leapwise’s board effectiveness model and review offering – reach out to the team by clicking the button below.
