Introducing our next series of articles exploring the four leadership behaviour types which impact a board’s effectiveness.

I have been told that you are born with your intellect; your character is formed in the first seven years of life and the only thing which is adjustable thereafter is our behaviour. So, the same must apply with any group of individuals including a board of directors. Individually and therefore collectively their intellect and their persona are broadly fixed and what is capable of adjustment within that group to optimise performance is behaviour. This is the conclusion Sir David Walker came to in his Review of Corporate Governance of 2009. Banks and Financial Institutions were ticking all the required governance boxes, but it was the effectiveness of leadership at the most senior level which needed to be improved.

I quote from an annex to his report on the Psychological and Behavioural Elements in Board Performance then authored by Alison Gill Bvalco’s CEO with Mannie Sher of the Tavistock Institute

‘The behavioural capabilities (learnable components) and traits (intrinsic and innate components) of a high performing chairman are extensive. Behaviours will include facilitation, empathy, and coaching; strategic thinking behaviours such as concept formation and information search; inspirational behaviours such as influence, building confidence and communication; and performance focussed behaviours such as pro-activity and continuous improvements. Traits might include physical vitality, stamina, courage, eagerness to accept responsibility, need for achievement, self-confidence, assertiveness, and openness to new ideas.The demand for these behaviours and traits will vary depending upon the mix and maturity of the business and the mix and maturity of other board members. But leadership studies from as far back as 1950’s has shown that traits do not influence leadership ability as much as a person’s ability to learn rapidly from and facilitate behavioural development in others’.

In our next series of articles, we are going to look at the four distinctive leadership behaviour types which impact on a board’s effectiveness. They are Strategic Thinking behaviours, Inspirational behaviours, Involving behaviours and those concerning Measuring Performance.  It becomes critical to understand how each of them manifests themselves in the interaction between participants in the boardroom and how they can impact on effectiveness without one necessarily being aware. Most importantly one needs to realise that they are all behaviours capable of being learned and are all adjustable.

Watch this space!