Will it make the boat go faster?

I’ve spent most of my 30-year career in a fortunate position of observing boards – how they operate, and how different chairs bring their own style to the board table to get the most (or not) out of their boards, and contribute the most value to the organisations they lead.

Chair roles are demanding. In one sense, there is a significant step up in workload from being a board member. But it also feels like a material shift in personal responsibility – and in ownership of outcomes.

At the micro level, when I invest time, prepare well and bring focus to board discussions, I can see the impact. It lifts other board members’ contributions, enriches discussion, and increases the value of the board’s input to the CEO and senior leadership. When I fall short, senior leadership’s scarce time can be wasted getting us back on track.

Stepping back to the macro, as chair I feel the biggest personal accountability to ensure the board and CEO are driving hard towards the organisation’s purpose and mission.

Most conversations don’t need to be tied constantly back to that highest level. But Sir Peter Blake’s simple gift to all of us – ‘Will it make the boat go faster?’ – is an enormously powerful example of a Kiwi leader who brought the mission statement into the daily operating language and decision-making.

Every now and then, there's a moment in a board discussion that calls for regrounding in 'why are we here?'. In a commercial organisation, that might be refocusing on the shareholder or customer.

Air New Zealand is here to “connect New Zealanders to each other and the world”. Kiwibank’s purpose is “Kiwi making Kiwi better off”. Genesis Energy’s is “Powering a sustainable and thriving Aotearoa”. These all sound reasonably practical as a board-level challenge when faced with key decisions.

At KPMG, our purpose is “Fuelling the prosperity of New Zealand”, for all New Zealanders. That means we have committed to doing work that has an impact on the health, wealth and wellbeing of New Zealanders.

When setting strategy or making investment decisions, it has meant we choose to invest in being great at agribusiness, great at delivering to New Zealand’s privately owned businesses, and great at supporting infrastructure work – to name a few examples.

When we have grown our work with the public sector, it has meant we have focused on working long term alongside key agencies that deliver better outcomes for the New Zealanders who need the most support from government.

At World Vision, our mission is “For every child, life in all its fullness. For every heart, the will to make it so”. In New Zealand our role, therefore, is to raise the funds that allow us to transform the lives of children in the world’s toughest contexts.

It’s easy for a board to get caught up in the governance of a complex digital transformation, or focused on receiving the operating reports on results in a difficult economy.

But questions like ‘how are we reaching more hearts in New Zealand?’ and ‘what do we stop doing so we can get more money to the field?’ are critical challenges that come from that mission statement which keep us on point.

In recent work in a range of roles, I’ve found ‘courage’ to be the most powerful value you can bring. Courage is calling something out. It’s when you make people stop and reconsider. When you say what needs to be said – plainly, clearly, calmly. Or doing what needs to be done in awkward, tense or difficult situations. People notice. You can move them.

Demonstrating courage in the right circumstances can be your strongest tool to influence or persuade people to get the right outcome.

If not the chair, who? The chair should invest more time than other board members in reflecting on the organisation. At the same time, they are not buried in the day-to-day operations like senior management.

In my view, that makes the chair best-placed in the whole structure to anchor discussions and decisions in purpose and mission.

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Matt Prichard is also Chair of World Vision New Zealand, and a former co-chair of Champions for Change and the Aotearoa Circle’s Mana Kai Initiative.