LEADERSHIP
 

When you become a non-executive director, your role is to challenge the executive team and hold them to account whilst being a trusted advisor, a critical friend and effectively using your skillset to help lead the organisation forwards.
 
It is not always necessary to have made it to C-Suite before joining a board but it is necessary for you to be able to demonstrate that, if you’re yet to reach “upper management”, you understand what good leadership is and how to encourage it and as Karen Brady said in her Diary of a CEO interview with Steven Bartlett, “management is not the same as leadership”.
 
Everyone can point to a time in their career when they’ve worked directly or indirectly with a bad leader (the demeaner, discourager and belittler) and we could probably see how disruptive and de-energising to the team that person was. It’s the same on a board, and we need the whole board to be able to display the characteristics of a good leader in order for the organisation to develop and evolve successfully.
 
The board must be able to provide appropriate oversight of the Senior Leadership, assess their effectiveness objectively and be able to evaluate their performance as an organisation constructively.
 

So, what are good leadership characteristics?

 
According to Brian Tracy, the famous self-development author, leadership is about ‘striving to become better in all areas of life and empowering everyone around you to become better versions of themselves’. Fundamentally, a good leader will inspire you and champion your ambitions. They will actively listen to your thoughts and ideas and give you the time to process your concepts properly before giving you constructive feedback.
 
The expectation of a good board, as a collective, is no different. Each individual board member will have their own style of leadership yes, yet they are likely to share some common behaviours –
 

• Passion for the organisation
• Excellent communication skills
• Confidence in your own ability
• Emotional intelligence
• Courage of conviction
• Clear understanding of your purpose

 
Being able to exhibit some, if not all, of these traits, along with the desired skill set identified as lacking in the boards latest skills matrix data, are the ingredients that make a good board member and a good board as a whole.
 
Make sure you’re aware of the ones you have and the ones you may need to work on – we can help you to figure it out so feel free to reach out to us directly, or join our next drop-in clinic!

An important update

2022 brings exciting new changes for us at BAME Recruitment and Diversifying.io. We’re committed to a continual journey of self-improvement, making sure we’re always being the most inclusive organisation possible.
 
We’ve listened closely to the commentary surrounding the acronym ‘BAME’ in recent years, and we believe that now is the time for us to take action. We feel that BAME Recruitment is no longer a name that fully represents our mission and we’re so excited to welcome in a new chapter. 
 
We’re busy working behind the scenes right now, but we can’t wait to share our new brand with you soon and continue our fight for equality with renewed strength.

More updates coming soon.

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Our Drop-in Clinic is back this
Wednesday 11th May at 1.30pm.
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