Director development

Category: Coaching Notes

Director development is one of my interests, providing transition coaching for managers who think they ought to be directors and to directors who still think like managers!

As you move up and up in your career you will become more expert in a narrower field, or focus only on the interests of a single department. Suddenly you become a director and everything is different, you need to show equal responsibility for all departments and to monitor a very wide and general environment, both inside the organisation and externally. What sort of director training is normally available?

The move from being a manager to a directorship is a more than a change in responsibility, it is a major change in behaviour and identity. Formal director training might help you to understand the legal implications of your new role and the responsibilities of company boards. But to help you make the behavioural changes, the best solution is personal support through executive coaching. I normally work with directors and prospective directors face to face with a flip chart. Directors are used to brainstorming and planning this way and we can quickly review questions such as: -

What are the challenges of the new role?

What do your old colleagues expect of you now?

How do you handle the change of status and relationships?

What do your new board room colleagues expect of you?

What do customers, suppliers and other stakeholders now expect?

How do you handle dual responsibilities as head of department and board member?

What practical steps should you take to improve your awareness, develop new skills, establish yourself in your new role?

The Institute of Directors publication Standards for the Board provides an excellent basis for a coaching programme. It is a benchmark standard which provides guidelines of good practice, including statutory requirements, for company directors, which should inform the way in which you collectively and individually conduct board business and discharge your responsibilities. It provides a framework within which company boards can develop, maintain and review their corporate governance policies and practices. And it helps boards improve their own performance and, through this, the success of their companies.

Sensible application of Standards helps clarify a board's tasks and the way it conducts its affairs, and helps it make many of its important decisions. It can be used as a tool for re-appraising what the board does and how it does it, and for taking actions which might otherwise not have been taken.

Standards also highlights the attributes required of individual directors if a board is to operate successfully, and can be used to assist in the selection, induction, training and development of directors.

Brefi Group has free on-line self assessment forms for directors to check out their effectiveness.

USEFUL LINKS