Are a set of 150-year-old parliamentary rules really applicable in a typical boardroom?
SCRIPT
I was with a board recently, engaged in a conversation about what “good governance” is (surprise, surprise!). One of the board members asked me where Robert’s Rules of Order fit into good governance. If you don’t know about Roberts’s Rules, take a second to Google them. Anyway, it’s a perfectly fair question. After all, basically every board deploys Robert’s Rules occasionally or frequently, especially when a vote is at hand. It’s a handy process to make sure we know that, in fact, a decision happened, which is good! The reason why I found the question so interesting is that it never would have occurred to me that Robert’s Rules were anything more than a potentially convenient tool, and certainly not a critical component of corporate governance generally or even board effectiveness specifically. Did you Google them? If you did, you probably saw the Wikipedia page which describes Robert’s Rules as “a manual of parliamentary procedure” from 1876. It goes on to explain that the rules “govern the meetings of a diverse range of organizations – including church groups, county commissions, homeowners associations, nonprofit associations, professional societies, school boards, and trade unions.” There’s something a bit startling about parliamentary rules being adopted by all these other types of organizations, and especially by boards, to be honest. Have you ever spent time watching a parliament try to make decisions? If you have, you probably noticed that rules matter a lot because, well, there are constantly arguments between groups of people with misaligned interests, pushing and pulling against each other. If that sounds like your board, then maybe you should hang on to Robert’s Rules for dear life. If not, you might want to consider a less structured approach once in a while.
BONUS: Why do corporate governance consultants mostly suck?
BONUS: Good governance is woke - and that's good news for everyone
BONUS: Good corporate governance does not cause good corporate performance
BONUS: What corporate governance resources are *really* missing (plus, an analysis of the top 500 albums of all time)
BONUS: Good governance is basically about feelings (long story alert!)
202. Season 4 Finale
201. I’m so fancy (Condition #49: Formality)
200. None of your business (Condition #48: Side conversations)
199. Can we talk for a minute? (Condition #47: Facilitation)
198. Another brick (Condition #46: Education)
197. People, helping people (Condition #45: Consultants)
196. Stakes is high (Condition #44: Risk)
195. Talkin’ ’bout PRACTICE (Condition #43: Practice)
194. I’ve been everywhere (Condition #42: Geography)
193. Get on up (Condition #41: Physical movement)
192. No rest for the wicked (Condition #40: Taking breaks)
191. Silence is golden (Condition #39: Sound/Noise)
190. ”Did I do that?” (Condition #38: Catchphrases)
189. Too much of something is bad enough (Condition #37: Subtraction neglect)
188. I’m on the next flight to be by your side (Condition #36: People’s real lives)
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