I am often asked to provide insights and ideas to this question. Here are a few ideas:
1. Conduct a review of the board’s risk management skills and relevant industry experience. If deficiencies exist, schedule industry or risk-management training.
2. List all the key assumptions implicit in the company’s strategy and revisit them on a set schedule.
3. Appoint one director to the role of “devil’s advocate” during board discussions on strategy, constructively challenging assumptions, plans, forecasts, and more. Assign a different director to this role each time strategy is on the agenda.
A great resource for director candidates is an ebook: The Art of Constructive Challenge (Amazon, Barnes, iBookstore $9.99).
1. Conduct a review of the board’s risk management skills and relevant industry experience. If deficiencies exist, schedule industry or risk-management training.
2. List all the key assumptions implicit in the company’s strategy and revisit them on a set schedule.
3. Appoint one director to the role of “devil’s advocate” during board discussions on strategy, constructively challenging assumptions, plans, forecasts, and more. Assign a different director to this role each time strategy is on the agenda.
A great resource for director candidates is an ebook: The Art of Constructive Challenge (Amazon, Barnes, iBookstore $9.99).