Looking good/Avoiding looking bad @ The Shadow Board

Thinking on your feet in high-stakes situations and being able to fully express emotions - without triggering your Senior Board peers - is a delicate balance between mind and heart.

At a recent Board advisory conversation for a NYSE-listed unicorn tech business, I heard a young, rising ‘Head Of’ share an experience about joining the Shadow Board. He experienced a finger pointed to his function when things went wrong. In front of the CEO. Instinctively reacting defensively his first thought was ‘how childish’... and then ‘Why is that person throwing me under the bus?’

From my experience advising at all levels, Boards included, I see this ‘avoiding looking bad/attempting to look good’ behaviour a lot. It has nothing to do with who is in the room, nothing about intentional disparagement. It’s to do with social awareness and the child ego state at play, invariably peppered with fear.

Knowing this means I could help my client to elevate the conversation and respond … without pointing the finger back. Here’s now:

• Shifting the focus from competing individually for the CEO’s attention to winning together.

• Setting new behavioural expectations for the group.

• Curating new cultural norms

• Agreeing accountability - for the good of the business rather than personal gain.

Is finger-pointing stalling your Board’s progress?