195. Talkin’ ’bout PRACTICE (Condition #43: Practice)

For a few years now, it’s really stuck with me that we expect directors and executives to walk into boardrooms and just be awesome. But we don’t really tell them what awesome looks like, and we certainly don’t give them any time to figure it out. Back in episode 70 I talked about the fact that thinking strategically takes practice. And it’s true! Making matters worse, we don’t really give boards any time to practice – every moment is like game time. More than that, they only get to “play the game” once a month at most – often way less than that. I get it. Boards are serious business, and we recruit people who are SUPPOSED to understand how to get the job done well, even under sub-optimal circumstances. If we’re lucky, we get some great stuff done under those conditions. But who wants to leave governance to luck, when we could build and maintain our skills through intentional practice? So, what does practice look like? The most important thing is to take away the stakes. In other words, we’re not making a consequential decision or learning about a complex part of the business or assessing a critical situation. We’re just practicing! The next most important thing is to decide what you need to practice. Struggling to “be strategic”? Not asking great questions? Presentations too boring? Whatever it is, identify something you could stand to get better at, remove the stakes, and give your board and management team some space to play around and try some stuff. Whatever you learn, good or bad, take note and do things a little bit better when the stakes are back on the table.