You have a vision for the future of your business. You have explained this vision to your team and to your board. You expect that this vision will be understood and achieved. Easy right?!
In reality, what this vision means to your team and what it means to your board are actually two very different things. How you manage your board, how you manage your team and how you bring the two together is key to ensuring your vision becomes a reality.
Managing a board:
- Understand the purpose of your board: Are they there to hold you accountable? Are they there to provide high level advice and feedback about the business performance?This purpose needs to be clearly defined to each person on the board.
- Don’t get stuck in operational tasks: A board is there to discuss the business’ strategy, issues impacting the business performance and to make decisions. Getting caught up in the everyday issues will not solve those problems. Operational tasks need to be dealt with at a team level.
- Take action:Managing a successful board means making decisions. Your meetings need to be planned and productive. Board members need to be held accountable for outstanding actions or requests.
- Don’t have a board just for the sake of having a board: A board can be ineffective if you are not making decisions or holding proactive meetings. Each member of the board (yourself included) needs to be highly engaged and contribute toward meetings. If you find yourselves running out of topics to cover, going over the same topics each meeting or not moving forward together, then it’s time to go back to the beginning and understand what the purpose of your board is.
Managing a team:
- Explain your vision: Your team come to work everyday; they are the people who will help you bring your vision to reality. It is important that you explain this vision to them and discuss what role their position plays in the success of the business.
- Delegate and delegate well: It’s an old one, but a good one. Ask a team member to be in charge of rostering each month or to come up with new ideas for marketing. Being involved in the running of a business not only helps you but provides staff the opportunity to understand the bigger picture.
- Tell them why: Whilst you might not be able to explain the reason behind every decision you make, providing your team with insight into why you’ve made certain decisions will help keep them engaged and open to change in the future.
- Be clear and consistent:Your vision should not change but how you achieve it might. When making operational changes, this should always tie back to your overall vision for the business.
Bringing it all together:
Whilst managing a team and board requires two different approaches, bringing them together occasionally will help to build confidence in each other. By providing an understanding of the different challenges faced by each group, this will give your vision for the business the highest chance of the being successful.
Do you need any help managing your board or your team? Accru have the knowledge and experience to help. Please contact your local office and see how Accru can help your business.
