Board Growth – Insuring Accountability;
Results-based
Management
Assuring accountability for results and employing results-based management is the bottom line for boards. When all is said and done, stockholders or stakeholders value only the results you produce. Process, systems, policies, plans are valued only if they produce intended results.
Accountability is a condition of being answerable. At its core is a sense of serving someone or something higher than oneself. For directors, it is accountability to stockholders or stakeholders to deliver what is promised. For management, it is accountability to the board and to employees to deliver on achieving targets and solving problems.
The stock and trade of leadership in the promotion of governance is delivering on your word, your commitments. Doing so brings overwhelming support. Not doing so brings cynicism, lowered commitment, poor performance.
The board and management are mutually accountable for end results and the condition of the organization. What is mutual accountability? It is a commitment to partnership in answering to others. Each party understands that the other is vital. Boards are the CEO’s link to understanding the stockholders or stakeholder; the results needed and problems to be avoided. CEOs hold the board’s trust that results will be accomplished.
But, partnership is difficult. It is easy to fall from mutual respect and cooperation to the blame game. The articles and tools of BoardGrowth.com are designed to promote the importance of governance and provide tools for boards of directors to get there.
Keys to achieving results-based management:
- Clarity of intended future: Vision, strategy,
targets, timelines.
- Clear accountability: Who will achieve what outcome
in what timeline to get us to our targets?
- Measuring the impacts of strategies: e.g. did achieving
our targets bring about the intended growth or reduce the impact of
a problem?
- Understanding overall condition: Are our plans,
programs, policies moving us forward?
- Accountability: Are we asking management and ourselves
to be answerable for results on a frequent basis? Are we finding blame
or finding solutions?
- Do we focus on results or process?
- Are we taking effective action when we consistently
under deliver on results?
- Are we as a board setting the standard for accountability results based management in overseeing our committees, our members?
Related
articles on board responsibility, accountability and results
based management.
Return to corporate governance articles Index.
