Board Shorts Podcast

So you want to get on a board, but you're not sure how to start your board journey. 'How do I get on a board' is a common question that I receive. To help you start out, I have three things for you to do to make your journey into the boardroom smart, smooth, and direct. For the full show notes (including links to resources to help you on your board journey), visit https://getonboardaustralia.com.a...

Do you ever feel bogged down in the nitty-gritty of every tiny detail at board meetings? Does the conversation feel like its going around and around in circles? Do you ever hear your CEO use the words "micro-managing" and "over controlling" when talking about your board? Well, it could be because your board is too concerned with the operational issues of the organisation when the focus should real...

Amanda Cole is a highly accomplished leader who has forged a successful advisory board career over the past 20 years. Since starting as a volunteer board member of her professional industry association, where she quickly moved into the national Chair role, Amanda has grown her advisory board portfolio. She is currently the Chair of Sunfresh Linen and two other private advisory boards for medium-si...

When you get talking to board members you will very quickly discover that they all share a set of common frustrations. These usually centre around unequal workload distribution, under or no meeting preparation (i.e. haven't read the board papers), receiving too much or too little information, receiving papers too close to the meeting time, and taking too long or not long enough on the important de...

Carolyn Grant is an advisor, author and founder of 6peas marketing and engagement; an agency creating tools, frameworks and training founded in neuroscience to provide insights to leaders to improve critical decision-making, team performance, customer advocacy and innovation. Carolyn is the creator and publisher of the People + Science Boardroom Psychological Safety Benchmark 2020-2021 (Australia)...

The chances are high that you will sit on many different boards throughout your board career. Your boards will likely be in different industries, serve different customers, have different and unique challenges and opportunities, and will have its own culture and structure and context. To try and build specific skills for each and every permutation would be a long and tedious task. This is where de...

Welcome back to another edition of boardroom insider of the month. Today I am joined by Rod Buchecker. Rod is a marketing & brand strategist, CEO coach, and board member. Amongst many other roles he holds, Rod currently serves on: The Advisory Board of Think 180 Pty Ltd The Board of Burnside War Memorial Hospital and is Chair of the Burnside Hospital Foundation, and The Board of Adelaide Zoo and M...

My guest today is Brad Waldron. Brad is known for his room-filling energy, infectious humour and battle-proven insights with immediate real-world applications. He has a proven record of helping others to succeed, through harnessing a rare combination of insight, humour and practical strategies to increase performance whilst enabling people to gain more fulfillment from their professional roles. He...

Six years ago I had a stroke. It taught me some valuable lessons. This episode is in recognition of National Stroke Week in Australia (2-8 August 2021). You can donate to the Australian Stroke Foundation at https://strokefoundation.org.au/ I am also donating 1% of all August course revenue. Visit https://getonboardaustralia.com.au/academy/

As part of diversity month, I have invited Sunita Miranda onto the podcast to have her share her experiences in the boardroom as a young female of Indian ethnicity with an expertise in marketing and communications. Sunita has served on boards for nearly 13 years, starting, like many of us, in the NFP sector while working full time and with a young family. Sunita is a testament to sharing your care...

What should one expect from a new director induction / on-boarding program? AND If there is no formal new director on-boarding program in place, for example, in the case of smaller NFP's or private companies, what should one ask from the Chair and CEO to get yourself up to speed as quickly as possible ahead of your first board meeting? My answer to these questions addresses the two main aspects of...

When I first read 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team' by Patrick Lencioni I was struck at how the five dysfunctions of the management team presented in the book are reflected in teams of all kinds, from the sporting field to the boardroom. It's actually one of the best "business books for the boardroom" that I've read. When I ran into Leadership and Team Development Specialist, Paul Lloyd, recently...

I'm here to tell you not to quit your day job! Naturally, I'm often asked what people can do to help themselves land their first board role. After heavily advocating that they invest in building, nurturing, and leveraging their network, I recommend that they be REALLY good at their day job; what Cal Newport refers to as being so good they can't ignore you. After all, your expertise is usually the...

The longer I listen to the news, the more I hear about organisations lurching from one culture crisis to the next. The boardroom is the place where bad culture starts, but it's also where bad culture can – and probably should – die. With the average person spending 90,000 hours of their life at work, workplace culture has an enormous influence and impact on our wellbeing. In this episode, I'm talk...

The board space can be incredibly overwhelming; there are so many names that apply to boards of directors – some come from legislation and some from tradition. It's no surprise that one of our most-read articles is one describing the various types of 'boards' that you may encounter as you begin and progress your board career. This podcast discusses the most common types of boards and what makes th...

Imagine being in a new city, in a new country, where you don't know anyone and having to build your professional and personal network from a completely zero base. This is what Jerry Kleeman agreed to do over 20 years ago when he moved from the US to Adelaide, Australia to take on a senior role in a global company. He is now considered by many people to be the person who knows everyone. And his ong...

How do you succeed as a not-for-profit board member? How can you effectively leverage not-for-profit board roles? I'm answering these questions from a listener, covering the span of your board journey: considerations before you join a board, what to do once you're on a board, and how to transition to your next board. Check out the show notes for this episode here: https://getonboardaustralia.com.a...

When you meet someone new, how do you answer the question 'what do you do?' It's a simple question that strikes fear into most people. There is actually a way to answer this question that enables you to start a potentially valuable conversation. Your answer should be framed in what I call your 'Unique Value Proposition'. It's something that I work on with every aspiring board member. Knowing your...

There is no shortage of corporate misconduct in the most senior ranks of some of the largest organisations in Australia. From allegations of sexual harassment to reports of bullying at the highest levels of organisations, boards are having to govern and lead through significant human relations crises that are having major external impacts. Board expert Julie Garland McLellan returns to the podcast...

At the beginning of this year - 2020 - I went back to school to study a Master of Business Law. Of course, I was expecting to learn a lot about law, but university - particularly my first semester back at university in about 8 years - actually ended up being a mirror. It highlighted parts of my personality, temperament, and working style. I was TOTALLY NOT expecting that. But rather than fight it,...

I'm not sure if you've felt it, but I've been feeling and noticing this mood or appetite, or even both, for a more human-side to businesses and boards. I think the global pandemic has had an interesting effect on our psyche; in a strange way, being physically distanced from each other has made us recognise and appreciate the human connections that we do have when we come together in person. Partic...

The conversation about board diversity generally starts and stops at gender balance. That's been a wonderful place to start; however, we both recognise that diversity is much more diverse than just gender. This conversation that I had with Amy Bottoms, a Principal of Catalyst Advisors in Seattle, Washington, covered the pros and cons of legislating for gender balance on boards, whether people are...

We are ALL in the situation where we are learning to lead through a global pandemic and deep and sudden economic crisis. There is no playbook for us as board members to follow; however, there are likely better ways for us to lead through this current situation and for us, as board members, to continue to add value to our boards. To understand what the best boards and best board members are doing n...

The key to getting better answers to help solve problems or seize opportunities is to ask better questions. Genuine curiosity is a cornerstone attribute of effective board members and effective boards. But how do we develop our questioning muscle? What makes a great question? What stops us from asking questions? And where do you start when faced with big issues in the boardroom? I sat down with qu...

As board members, we open ourselves up to risk - financial and otherwise. But how do you begin to get your head around exactly what this risk is and how deep it can reach into your and your family's lives? I look to answer that question, sent in by a listener, who wanted to understand the financial risk she (and by default her family) might be taking on if she accepts a board position. She also wa...