The future of the boardroom is now, but…

This weekend just gone, I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Better Boards Conference in Brisbane. The delegates were mostly non-executive directors of mid-to-large non-profits. They were friendly, intelligent and, as you’d expect for a boardroom-based conference, mostly older than your average Aussie.

There was a vibe about the place. The theme of this year’s conference was Adaptive Directorship: Governing for the Unpredictable. What a great topic! Can we really set long term goals anymore, especially financial ones? The world changes so quickly. Just look back at the last decade. Now look back 20 years, which for me is my entire working life. Back then, there were no smartphones, the Internet was very limited, iPads and driverless cars were for science-fiction. We did have some dodgy world leaders so some things haven’t and perhaps will never change. Humans…

Anyway, I digress. We heard from some wonderful speakers and I felt privileged to be among them, even facilitating a debate into the merits of intergenerational (or age) diversity in the boardroom. I’ve realised I’m a bit of a performer so I truly enjoy being on stage and interacting with a crowd, despite nervous trips to the bathroom beforehand. (Presenters reading this know exactly what I mean!)

One of the most impactful presentations was by Andrew Donovan. His CV reads like establishment boardroom, but his language and engaging presenting style tell of a man on the cusp of the boardroom (r)evolution, and I cannot wait to interview him for my new podcast, Boardroom Hustle.

Andrew spoke about the future of the boardroom, specifically what needs to adapt, augment and outright change for the board director and boardroom to maintain relevance and influence in the modern world: Parallel boards of young people; tech-enabled boardrooms; pop-up boards; smaller, more agile governance boards surrounded by larger teams of advisers; the ‘specialist generalist’ – a coin termed by the conference convener, Raph Goldsworthy, and an idea shared by Future Directors and David Gonski.

So there was an audience of close to 500 taking all this in from Andrew. They were spellbound. Almost no one was on their smartphone.

What did I get from people in that moment?

The acceptance is there. People know change is necessary and they must drive it.

The desire to change is also there. They know they need to think differently, do differently and bring in new people. But they don’t know where to look.

Unfortunately, in their minds and as mostly volunteer directors, the time and resources are not there. They don’t have budgets for this. Being a non-profit director is one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had to do and, while you want to have an investment mindset (who wouldn’t?), you are beset by real and perceived barriers, both internal and external.

We must give our NFP boards more time. We must ditch this archaic notion of cost minimisation. We must take a long-term investment approach to a sector that is and can have a huge impact on people, society, animals and our shared environment.

Some of us need to step aside and let people with the right mindset enter the fray. Others need to stick it out as they are the ones constantly striving to create value. But where do they come from, and who steps aside?

Where does a board and its directors start? Well, as Andrew said at the end of his captivating presentation, start where you are and start right now.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Rosie Yeo, another speaker who needed more time with her audience, who suggested that boards start a conversation with ‘Imagine if….’