The One Trait Every High-Performing Board Has (That Yours Probably Doesn't)

0:09Jeannette L. Brown:Welcome back to Brave Bold Brilliant. I'm Jeannette and today's episode is for anyone who sits on a board, leads one or is building one. Now, after over 30 years of running global businesses and working closely with executives and boards, I've sat in rooms with high-performing boards that made fast, courageous decisions, but I've also sat in rooms with boards that were polite, professional and completely stuck. Same level of talent, same level of experience, but completely different results. And when I look at what separates the two, it almost always comes down to one thing. It's not strategy, it's not credentials, it's not even industry expertise, it's cohesion.

0:54Jeannette L. Brown:And I'm talking about real trust, psychological safety at the top table. So today, what I want to do, I want to unpack why this one trait matters more than almost anything else in the boardroom and how to tell whether your board actually has it. So we're going to get into this. But before we do that, at Brave Bold Brilliant, we are building a community of really impactful business leaders. And I'm fortunate enough to be able to have conversations with incredible entrepreneurs and elite business people. And it's through those conversations that we can really help each other. So if you are not already subscribed to Brave Bold Brilliant, whether it's the YouTube channel, whether it's listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, hit the subscribe button because then you'll be notified every time we go live with a new episode or a new video like this.

1:49Jeannette L. Brown:So let's get into it. Number one, what cohesion? What does it actually look like in practice? you know and what cohesion actually it's not about everyone agreeing you know the opposite actually directors that challenge each other openly you know without it becoming personal and I've seen this so much throughout my corporate career in particular so I'll give you a very real example of this so when I was the managing director of the emerging markets for TUI you know we were deciding which big markets were we going to actually invest in and I am talking about significant acquisitions in the hundreds of millions of pounds, over half a billion in some instances and we had some really big choices to make as a board and I had a really big responsibility to be able to showcase the different options.

2:44Jeannette L. Brown:Should we invest in China with our joint venture existing partner there having just achieved an outbound operating license or should we actually go and buy the market leader in Brazil you know because the two strategies both highly impactful both really had a chance of success but not everyone agreed at the beginning and that was okay because what that allowed us to do was to really have a proper conversation around the pros the cons so that when we did make the final decision in terms of our strategy and the approach, everyone was on board. Everyone had had a chance to share, but it didn't mean to say that we all just nodded and smiled without actually sharing a difference of opinion.

3:28Jeannette L. Brown:So that's a great example around cohesion and how you have to have very real conversations. So let's get into number two. Make some notes here actually, because that can be really helpful for you and if you're listening back to this. But the second point I want to make about this is what I'll call the polite paralysis trap. So these are boards that avoid conflict to preserve harmony. You know, let's be honest, we don't always want to have those difficult conversations. It feels awkward, but that's not what you're there to do. Because when you avoid conflict or avoid the difficult conversations to be polite, then decisions get watered down because no one wants to rock the boat.

4:12Jeannette L. Brown:You know, why everyone agreed in a board meeting, it's often a red flag. It's not always a good sign. You'll have to have the debate and discussion.

4:23So before we continue, I want to speak directly to those of you who are listening and thinking, I know I'm capable of more, but I need structure. I need some help. Because here's what I've actually learned after, gosh, more than three decades in business. You know, ambition without clarity creates frustration. And motivation without structure, it really does fade very, very fast. So that's exactly why we created Rise Academy. You know, and Rise Academy, it's not theory. It isn't fluffy motivation, although you will be motivated. And it certainly isn't another online course that you never finish.

5:08It's actually a fully structured growth environment for ambitious entrepreneurs, leaders and founders who absolutely are ready to do all of these things, sharpen their strategy, elevate their leadership, increase revenue with intention and build businesses that actually support the life that they want. And inside Rise Academy, we focus on the foundations most people skip, leading yourself, leading your teams and leading the business. It's about clarity, standards, decision-making, commercial intelligence and execution. Because scaling, it really isn't about doing more. It's actually about doing the right things and doing the things right consistently.

5:55So if you're serious about stepping up into your next level of your leadership, your business life, you know, and not just consuming content, but actually implementing it, then Rise Academy was absolutely built for you. So you can find all the details on our website, go to www.brave-bold-brilliant.com. And now let's get back to the show.

6:21Jeannette L. Brown:so the third point i want to make here is about psychological safety at the top table you know you have to create the right environment now whether you are a ceo an md or maybe you're leading actually a team or your own business this stands true for any team actually but especially in the boardroom you've got to have psychological safety and that means that people feel that they can turn up as themselves. They're able to share their views openly. They feel safe to say the unpopular thing that maybe a lot of people are thinking, but they don't want to say. And it's the CEO's role. It's the chair person's role to really create that psychological safety.

7:04Jeannette L. Brown:You know, and what, you know, hierarchy and ego often can quietly suppress the best thinking in the room. You know, have you ever been in a scenario where actually everyone follows the boss? I certainly have. I've also been in boards where actually the CEO sets the right tone, the MD sets the right tone for creating psychological safety. And in actual fact, we work with some incredible global brands, whether it's a core hotels, whether it's Virgin Atlantic, whether it's some of the big private equity houses that we work with. And when we run an executive edge program, I always, when we're doing shares around the table, we're talking about leadership or we're debating a business strategic point, I always encourage everyone else to speak first and I get the boss to share last.

7:56Jeannette L. Brown:Now, why do I do that? I do that because we don't want everyone just to follow the leader blindly. And it's so important that you create the right environment and psychological safety so everyone has a voice, no matter whether they're an extroverted personality or an introverted personality. All right, so psychological safety. Let's then get to point number four. This is about speed and quality of decision making. Now, cohesive boards make faster decisions because trust removes that friction. Non-cohesive boards, they re-litigate the same issues, meeting after meeting, you know, they reopen issues.

8:34Jeannette L. Brown:and the compounding cost of those slow decisions can be really costly, especially in a competitive market. So point number five, accountability that actually sticks. Now, cohesive boards hold each other to account, not just the executive team. Clear ownership of actions, follow through between meetings, and a lack of accountability can often trace back to a lack of trust, not necessarily a lack of process. So really accountability, owning the decision and making sure that those actions actually are implemented properly. So then let's talk about diversity of thought versus actually what you could call comfortable groupthink.

9:21Jeannette L. Brown:So high-performing boards actively seek different perspectives. The risk of boards that look diverse but think identically is clearly something that we want to avoid, you know, and we want to be encouraging constructive dissent as a deliberate practice. Now, I have spent many, many, many years in the boardroom. And let me tell you, when I first got my initial director position, actually, I was the only woman in the boardroom. You know, I wasn't actually in a position to see other people that look like me or had a similar social background to me. The world has changed now, thank God. We still have some way to go when we talk about diversity, equity and inclusion, but a really effective board should represent your customer base.

10:08Jeannette L. Brown:It should represent diverse thinking, diverse perspectives, because that's actually when you're going to make better decisions. So if you're finding this useful, honestly, please hit that subscribe, because this series is all about what actually separates high performing leadership from the rest. And that's what we're here to do. We're here to make an impact. We're not here to mess around. So, you know, I'm hoping that this is going to be really help you with your own kind of board. So, you know, let's talk about how do you assess whether your own board is cohesive or not. So, you know, signs of dysfunction can often get normalized over time.

10:49Jeannette L. Brown:And it can just often be the way that things are done because it's sort of grown arms and legs you've had bad behavior creeping that hasn't actually been dealt with so one of the best ways to avoid that is to have an outside objective assessment rather than just kind of analyzing yourself and this is absolutely where we come into our absolute four really because when we work with clients we actually are there to be the trusted confident to be the impartial external person and organization that's able to take a neutral look, not only at how the board is performing, but also, you know, the business strategy as well.

11:31Jeannette L. Brown:So, you know, it can be really helpful to bring in an outside perspective that's able to also ask some of the more challenging questions that maybe it could be a bit more difficult to raise them yourself. And then, you know, really the other thing that is incredibly powerful, I would encourage you to do this is to bring in psychometric profiling and we do this we use a tool called Lumina Spark and it's one of the best psychometric profiling tools in the in the market and I have done so many over the years trust me but when we work with organizations we bring in psychometric profiling because what that allows us to do is to not only help each individual leader understand their profile but we can also then look at the dynamics of the board you know and what the tool that we use does it looks at your underlying personality your everyday how you show up to the world at work etc but also what happens when you're overextended and under stress so you know let's be honest when you're in a board position often we are operating under extreme pressure so how does the board respond?

12:41Jeannette L. Brown:What are the different dynamics and the personality profiles? And that allows you to take a really good honest look at the board as well. So those things, bringing that external perspective, I would really highly recommend. And of course, if you actually feel you need this in your business, please drop me a line, send the team a message, reach out because this is exactly what we have deep expertise in. So point number eight, let's talk about building cohesion deliberately by intention, you know, because it doesn't just happen by putting talented people in a room together. That is not enough. It's actually built through structured work, you know, building the trust, clarity of roles, honest facilitation, you know, and actually investing in that it's not a nice to have it's really really important and again this is where we spend a lot of time with our clients and let me tell you you know through through working with different organizations over the last 30 years you know it's helped it's helped me it's helped our organization brave bold brilliant really add value to the businesses that we work with because we do provide that structured approach that is tried and tested and we know delivers results not only for the effectiveness of the board, but ultimately also for the financial performance of the business.

14:00Jeannette L. Brown:So if this sounds like something that you need, as I say, reach out to us. Our Executive Edge program will be absolutely perfect for you and your board. So, you know, you might be listening to this, you know, and you're not entirely sure if your board has that real cohesion that we've been talking about, or you might have a feeling that it doesn't really, or it's not quite where it needs to be you know and that's incredibly common but the good news is it's a fixable position right and that's where we really work directly with boards with executive teams you know to reach out to us as I say our executive edge program will be perfect for you and your board but even before we do that we actually take a proper assessment at your organization we do stakeholder interviews through our Align 360 and then that allows us to really give you a very neutral non-biased perspective on where we feel there are some opportunities for you to fill and also where there may be some some gaps that need to be addressed so you know honestly I'm passionate about business I'm passionate about people it's what we do at Brave Bold Brilliant you know we are here not only to inspire but to share practical things that absolutely work.

15:16Jeannette L. Brown:So remember this, you know, talent doesn't make a high-performing board, it's trust that does. And it's the boards that are the ones that are brave enough to disagree, hold each other accountable and move fast because they trust each other around the table. Remember, a winning team wins together or not at all. And that is exactly the same whether you're a sports team, whether you're a senior leadership team or whether you are an executive board so if this episode has given you something to think about as i say please hit subscribe you know leave us a review but also share it with someone who sits on a board with you maybe or you know a colleague someone that you've got in your network that might be struggling with some of this and just remember it is by being brave and bold that you're going to unlock your brilliant so until next time i'll catch you when the weather breaks.

16:05Jeannette L. Brown:I really hope you've enjoyed this episode of Brave Bold Brilliant. Remember, check out our new website, www.brave-bold-brilliant.com. You're going to find loads of resources on there that's going to help you with your leadership journey and with the businesses that you're trying to scale up and grow. So take care, everyone. And remember, there are no limits to your growth, but it is by being brave and bold that you're going to unlock your brilliant.

16:34Thank you.