A non-executive director sits on the board of directors and shares in the responsibility for the success of the company. But, unlike the other Directors, they don’t hold any operational responsibilities within the company, nor are they an employee. A young budding recruitment business may see great benefits in having a seasoned professional attend board meeting, providing advice and guidance, challenge and scrutiny in order to accelerate business performance. And who could argue with that… knowledge is power and learning from other experiences is a sure way to build up your artillery for growth.
Having sat in many board meetings, the objective, tone, hyper focus on commercials is not the same as how you may conduct a senior leadership meeting, a training workshop or a one-to-one coaching session with an MD or another board member.
The skills, tools and application vary considerably. Just because an NED has a great track record in contributing at board level, doesn’t mean they are also best positioned to deliver on the people agenda, such as coaching. When selecting an NED for your business, our advice would be to put the title to one side for a moment and consider the full range of support your business is likely to need as it grows beyond its current cycle.
Yes, an NED should provide support on strategy development, measure and manage management's performance on goals and objectives, ensure financial scrutiny and insert robust control systems. They should also set financial reward levels and put in place a succession plan for management.
Providing a blended and broad range of services to our clients is just one of the crucial reasons they clients retain our services year after year.
When shortlisting for an NED, consider what else your business needs, and how you can maximise value.
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