Center Voices
Board Leadership: Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?
By Peter McGinn
Who is the leader of your board? Is it the chair? The CEO? Someone else—perhaps a former chair, the member with the longest tenure, or the one with the greatest community influence? Or it could be the person with the loudest voice, who is also the most opinionated. Alternatively, it might be a quiet person who commands attention because of his or her insightful comments.
Does your board have one leader or many? Is one person at the wheel with everyone else along for the ride?
I like to use the picture of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima in World War II as my mental image of leadership in action. A colonel had ordered that a flag be flown. Sergeant Michael Strank, who had earlier been offered a promotion but turned it down to stay with his men, put together a team of five others in addition to himself. Several scoured the ground and found a large pipe, while another secured the largest flag available. They attached the flag to the improvised pole and raised it together. Strank died in battle less than two weeks later but left behind a lasting image of leadership.
Leadership is about action, not titles. A board member who advocates action is more of a leader than a board chair, board officer or CEO who is complacent or who habitually defers action. Great leaders, such as Robert Heyssel, M.D., the former CEO of the Johns Hopkins Health System, Baltimore, make an impact because of how they translate their vision into action and how they help others in their organizations do likewise.
Unfortunately, some health care professonals have a tendency to instill doubt and hesitation among board members by implying that health care is unique and too complex for a layperson to understand, which often limits trustees’ willingness to act. Of course, it is true that many of the rules, regulations and reimbursement formulas in health care are counterintuitive for those accustomed to conventional businesses and professions. Therefore, it is not unusual for board members, who are leaders in other arenas, to defer to executives or physicians, who have more familiarity with the jargon, methods and oddities of health care practice and management. It is a mistake to insist, however, that health care is so specialized that an intelligent board member with common sense cannot help guide the organization to make better decisions and contribute to strategic planning or values and mission clarification.
Over the years, many board members with whom I have worked have demonstrated effective leadership, some when they had a leadership title, such as board or committee chair, and others when they carried no title.
For example, a past board chair always asked perceptive questions. When I, as CEO, would listen carefully to the question’s implications, I would see new opportunities for action.
I have worked with other board members who have given me timely advice. For instance, in 1997, I was confident that we had anticipated and evaluated the challenges of Y2K correctly for our information systems. One of our board members, who was CEO of a large and respected firm, described a Y2K assessment he had made in his own organization. He challenged my assumptions and caused me to look at the problem in a new way. He was right, and this led our organization to rethink our methods for protecting our information system while there was still sufficient time.
Another board member, an accountant, researched the background of an organization with which we contemplated doing business. Using publicly available records, he compared their financial results with benchmarks, raised insightful questions, and helped us achieve a fuller picture of our prospective business partner.
I have seen other board members play devil’s advocate. They question assumptions and conclusions to test management’s logic and thoroughness. They lead by helping us avoid “group think.” Some board members become champions for critical programs. They lead by reinforcing the board’s or management’s resolve when enthusiasm or commitment might otherwise wane. Some long-term board members play the role of historians, reminding the rest of us when we are seeing an old issue in a new disguise.
And finally, there are the new board members (and those who are willing to take a new perspective), who don’t let us get away with a flawed rationale for actions simply because “we have always done it that way.”
On a bus, only the driver has control and can determine how the bus will move. Many people act as if their boards or organizations are similarly designed—that is, only the person in the driver’s seat can make decisions and act on them. But effective organizations and their boards are different. You can drive from any seat.
Peter McGinn, PH.D., is president and CEO, United Health Services, Binghamton, N.Y. He can be reached at (607) 762-2263.
This article 1st appeared in the December 2099 issue of Trustee Magazine.
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