Return to Spring 2007 Acredula Index

Attributes of Quality Board Members:
What to Look for in Your Board

John F. Dix
President, Business Development Index
Reprinted from Acredula -- Spring 2007

As the owner of a private company, you have worked hard to form and invest in a board of advisors or board of directors to bring value to the organization. Among the board, each member has their own unique attributes to contribute while they participate. With the leverage of these talents, each board member helps to multiply the return to the company and achieve the purpose of a productive and effective board of directors.

As you consider the composition of your board, this series of articles will help provide you with thoughtful insight for enhancing its performance. This second article will discuss the attribute of the ability to constructively disagree.

People often shy away from confrontation, or they approach it too harshly, but the ability to constructively disagree is a crucial quality for board members to contain. Think of constructive disagreement as a mechanism that expands the mind’s ability to consider options or positions not previously taken into account or considered as viable concepts. Finding board members who have the talent and skill to bring appropriate new thinking to the table without being argumentative or judgmental opens the company to be viewed as an industry-thought leader.

Board members who are skilled at constructive disagreement tend to focus on solutions that are within the capability and resources of the company to achieve. If you find that discussion revolves around who is right and who is wrong, time is being wasted on defending positions instead of searching for viable options. By encouraging constructive disagreement, the board increases its effectiveness and value to the company.

Outside directors are added to a board of directors to fill voids in the company’s skill sets, bring new thinking to the company and to capture a depth of experience not residing in the company. Populating your board with people skilled in constructive disagreement further enhances the value of outside directors for the benefit of the company as well.

Prior to the board meeting, there are several ways to encourage members to prepare for constructive disagreement to take place. The first step is to provide the board with a packet of information that includes a focused and clear agenda. The advance packet might also include a few well-considered, broadly stated questions that encourage board members to brainstorm options or alternatives for the key issues on the agenda. An advanced phone call or informal talk with each board member can be another effective tool to encourage the preparation of considered alternative solutions or suggestions to address in the meeting.

While in the meeting, you’ll notice that an additional benefit of constructive disagreement is that it delivers a tone that avoids finger-pointing and blame games. It focuses on discussion and encourages the business managers to broaden their horizons as they search for solutions and options that increase the probability of success.

Developing an environment that promotes constructive disagreement among your board also has the potential to migrate down into the management team and the interactions between the functional managers in your company, similarly increasing their effectiveness and efficiency. It also strengthens the desire to of the company’s functional managers to work together toward a common objective.

As you experiment with the use of constructive disagreement among your board, you will find meetings more productive, the management team more responsive, and the solutions will include a broader array of possibilities.

The payoff for effective use of constructive disagreement is the increased probability of a unified agreement and the power of a management team that pulls together toward a unified goal. If you find that discussion revolves around who is right and who is wrong, time is being wasted on defending positions instead of searching

John F. Dix is president of Business Development Index, Columbus, Ohio, and is a member of numerous boards in the US and Canada.