Board Management Decision Making

When a board of directors makes the decision, it must ensure that the decision is backed by evidence and reflects the organization’s goals in the long term. This means obtaining information from a variety of sources, like employee surveys, industry reports and competitor analysis, to support the decision. It is also important to weigh the pros and cons of different alternatives and determine which will most likely to achieve the desired outcome.

Board members must be aware of the alignment of the proposed course with the company’s mission and vision and also any regulatory or legal requirements. Board members should also be M&A transactions aware of the risks that may be associated with a decision, and make sure that the board’s appetite for risk is taken into consideration.

Boards can also benefit from techniques that are designed to prevent groupthink. These include brainstorming, Six Thinking Hats (a technique to avoid groupthink), Disney Planning Method, and Delphi Technique. It is helpful to assign informal roles to certain Board members, for example « devil’s advocate » or « devil’s advocate, » to challenge others’ ideas and help generate a variety of solutions.

Boards also have the option of deciding how and when to notify members of upcoming votes. This allows them to have the time they need to consider and discuss the information prior to voting, and enables them to ask questions and think of alternatives. This helps to lessen the amount of fatigue that board members experience. In the past, I have been party to situations where urgent information was provided to boards before they are expected to decide on it and can hinder the decision-making process and hinder the final decision.