
Pinpoint the blindspots of the strategy: The contemporary board plays a crucial role in overseeing the business strategy. The strategy is definitely a different beast nowadays, with the increasing speed of changes, many organizations are inundated with tactical tasks and daily operational duties, they don’t spend enough time on scrutinizing the long-term strategy and identify disastrous blind spots in order to make a smooth business transformation. The BoDs as the business critic can provide excellent feedback which gives the top management accurate information to improve; great questions to self-aware; and keen insight to gain an in-depth understanding of the digital ecosystem. Strategy blind spots are created by the lack of future-driven mindset, that means the management probably wouldn't know where is the weakest link in the business and how to invest in new capabilities for their business, even if the organization thought there was any value justification for making the investment. The traditional strategy is the view via considerably narrow frames with static timelines, but digital strategy view is broader to oversee the business ecosystem and has to embrace the emergent digital dynamic with continuous disruptions. There are both blind spots in strategy formulation and execution, BoDs need to present strategic wisdom to pinpoint pitfalls in strategy management and keep track of strategy-execution continuum. In a world of well-defined problems, directors are required to exercise leadership influence over volatility, manage uncertainty, simplify complexity, and resolve ambiguity in the 21st-century digital environment.
Minding the cognitive gaps for setting the top leadership tone and expand innovation lens: Generating a high-performing Board is a question of appointing the right persons to Boards which implies "inclusiversity.” It's the diversity both from a cognitive difference, differentiative expertise, or functional perspective. Boards need to have qualified candidates who bring cognitive diversity to a Boardroom. Anyone who is selected to sit on a corporate board should be fully qualified to bring fresh insight to mind the cognitive gap. Some of these credentials are proven experience in executive leadership, entrepreneurship, strategy development, technological vision, risk and crisis management, global empathy, international experiences, and some degree of financial literacy. The board needs to extend its innovation lens via cognitive difference. An insightful board built on the diversity of thought more often does not necessarily come from the diverse physical identity; but from one’s thought process, cognitive difference, learning habit, recombinant capability, diverse experience or skill sets, etc. Nowadays we live in complex digital systems, it takes 'different'' thinking, uses the right tools and leverages effective process in GRC practices. Diversification is a component and in some cases a very good initiation of value creation. If it builds on and across supports other assets, people start to think, understand, learn and work together to lead better decisions and better performance, and thus transform the business from good to great!

Good boards advise, but great boards inspire; good boards take compliance lens to ensure nothing is broken; great boards set the digital leadership tone to break outdated rules, and build digital principles; good boards have peer relationships, but great boards present creative tension, you know it when you see it. Great boards are heterogeneous, inquisitive, intelligent, effective, innovative and influential. All of these require thinking, requiring asking questions, to sharpen “directorship” for getting digital ready.
0 comments:
Post a Comment