Chapter 10 - The role of the governance professional in influencing the board Flashcards
What did the Cadbury Report 1992 say about the role of a co-sec
The company secretary is responsible for ensuring that board procedures are complied with, advising the board on all governance matters, supporting the chair and helping the board and its committees to function efficiently
What did the 2014 ICSA Report: The role of the company secretary: building trust through governance say?
- The role of the company secretary is much more than administrative. At its best, it delivers strategic leadership, acting as a vital bridge between the executive management and the board and facilitating the delivery of organisational objectives’
- There are three role requirements: technical, commercial and social
- similar attributes and is closest to the role of the chairman. They require the leadership qualities of humanity, humility, high intelligence, an understanding of agendas, negotiation and a tough resilience to dealing with everyday issues
- Many company secretaries explain it can take up to 18 months to become comfortable in their role, and it is at this point that they are able to engage more strategically in a leadership role
List some examples of personal qualities that allow a co-sec to excel as per the ICSA 2014 report
- Learning in vivo i.e. through experience
- Wisdom
- Supportive
- Facilitative
- Integrative
- Resilient but not forceful personality
- Patient
- Timing of comments/inputs
- Deflects tension/disagreement
- Courage to speak out
- Broad view
- Invisible qualities
- Disciplined and sensitive
- Operates at different levels: organisationally, emotionally and intellectually
According to Cross, how can a company secretary become a strategic leader?
An important starting point to becoming a strategic leader is to become the third person in the CEO and chair relationship: if all three are highly effective, the people joining the board will be high quality and make sure that the processes of the board and the relationships are of the standards required
How did Kotter distinguish management and leadership (assuming the co-sec should show strategic leadership)
- Management: short-term: creating order and doing things right: focus on efficiency, compliance and control
- Leadership: long-term: producing change and doing the right thing: focus on effectiveness, innovation, development and leaders’ spend time with people building trust and alignment with the directional visions and values
Contrary to Kotter’s distinction, what does Mintzberg say about the difference between management and leadership?
Mintzberg says that the distinction between management and leadership is illusionary - people (regardless of role) are constantly required to flex their roles from moment to moment and leadership is not someone who is constantly in visionary change mode like Kotter says
Outline the evolution of leadership theory
- 19th century: Great Man - military leadership - leaders are born and not made
- 1970s: Transactional leadership - influence followers through transactions of reward or punishment
- 1980s: Transformational leadership - charismatic leaders to inspire others to do great deeds through communicating a clear vision
- 2016 Henley Business School - moving from heroic leadership to collective and collaborative leadership- focus shifts from ‘leading my people’ to ‘orchestrating business ecosystems’ i.e. ESG
What are the 6 leadership styles outlined by Daniel Goleman?
- Directive
- Pacesetting
- Visionary
- Affiliative
- Participative
- Coaching
- Three most common among male leaders: Directive, Pacesetting and Visionary
- Three most common among female leaders: Visionary, Affiliative and Participative
- Two which outperform all others: Visionary and Coaching – best types of leadership
- Co-sec most likely to have a directive form through policing compliance – therefore, best to use informal leadership opportunities to change this to visionary
Kakabadse et al from Henley Business School came up with the concept of a co-sec being an ‘invisible’ leader. Distinguish this concept with ‘individual’ leadership.
- Individual leadership in the boardroom is through the use of words as expression of IQ (intelligence) and PQ (political acumen)
- Invisible leadership is the subtle actions of higher-order EQ (emotional) and MQ (moral) skills in leadership decision-making
According to Luke (2005), what is the third-dimensional power: ‘smart-power’?
This is to get others to have the desires you want them to have. This is concerned with influencing others to change their perception so that they then intrinsically choose to do something emanating out of their own motivation
This can be through setting the agenda and thus influencing boardroom priorities from a more objective perspective
Outline the SUCCES acronym proposed by Chip and Dan Heath as a model for leadership influence
- Simple (don’t overcomplicate)
- Unexpected (grabs attention)
- Concrete (help paint a mental picture)
- Credible (backs up your vision)
- Emotional (appeal to human values)
- Stories (brings it alive)
Each letter can help make an idea ‘sticky’
What are the 5 currencies of influence as a leadership influence model
- Task-related currencies: relate to the task at hand and getting the job done
- Relationship-related currencies: people who value this currency want to create strong relationships
- Inspiration-related currencies: people who value this currency want to contribute to something meaningful
- Position-related currencies: people who value this currency value recognition, reputation and visibility – they can be appealed by public acknowledgement of their efforts
- Personal-related currencies – one can appeal to this currency by showing a person sincere gratitude for their assistance
**If a co-sec is able to understand each currency and flex one’s approach, they can deliver change more effectively
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Name some examples of some leadership influence tools
- Building relationships - think Maister et al on how to build trust
- Networking - use internal and external networks effectively, leveraging relationships and exchanging knowledge - coffee, ask questions, be genuinely interested in someone, use social media
- Act politically - Snell et al: found this as the most important management skill for predicting overall managerial effectiveness
- Storytelling - more likely to be remembered than facts or figures
