The job of a board is to provide guidance and oversight of the executive management team, and to ensure that company policies are adhered to and that all fiduciary obligations are met. While some boards give too much power to their executive management, most do not go far enough. The media is filled with stories of business catastrophes which are the result of poor or incompetent management teams.
One of the best ways to avoid such problems is to ensure your board has a full range of skills and perspectives and can check this site out work effectively as a group. This means establishing specific management guidelines for your board including accepting diversity when creating your board and taking on leadership roles, fostering agile structure (e.g. the formation of committees to deal with new threats) and conducting a regular assessment of both the board itself and the individual members.
Another board management principle is to not get too involved in the day-to-day operations of your business. This is because a large part of a board’s job is to set the long-term goals for your company and how it is integrated within the wider society.
While this may sound like a simple idea, many companies have a hard time with this idea. For example there are board members who start meeting directly with management without the CEO’s knowledge or take a leap of faith in the hope of being helpful. This puts the CEO in a tough position. The CEO should collaborate with the chairman of the board and other directors to address the issue and re-establish trust.