how Board members are currently using conversations well and which conversations are missing or not effective; and to provide an experience of a conversation that allows for both deep listening and advocacy.
How much are conversations a part of your work on the Board (conversations as face-to-face, email, phone, meetings, written form).
How much of your work on the Board involves conversations – give a percentage?
Which part of a board members role didn’t involve conversation?
What does that tell us about the role of conversation in doing your work as a Board?
The overwhelming response to these questions was that about 90% of the work of a Board member involves having various types of conversations. Board members are ‘conversational agents’ and a key part of a Board member’s effectiveness is not just what they know, but how they carry out conversations. Leaders are often not aware of the weaknesses in their conversational practices. What problems the leader is able to articulate – how they interact together; how they identify key conversational problems all affect how they work together in achieving business outcomes. Once you understand the internal conversations that characterise an organisation's strengths, weaknesses and what sorts of conversations are missing, you can make a big difference to board and organisational effectiveness.
1. Conversation for Stories and Assessments: To get things off our chest and to share our views.
2. Conversation for Clarity: To ensure we have a mutual understanding of an issue, as the basis for moving forward together.
8. Conversation for Accomplishment: To acknowledge accomplishments, successes as a means to people recognising their own achievements and to provide a setting where their contributions are publicly valued by others.