Tomorrow’s Board: Why every director needs the skills of coaching and mentoring Boards are evolving. The expectations are higher and the pace of change is faster. In order to lead effectively, directors need more than strategic oversight - they need the ability to coach, mentor, and empower others to think and act with clarity. My new blog explores why these skills are no longer “nice to have,” but essential for tomorrow’s boardrooms. If you’re a current or aspiring board member, or you work closely with executive leaders, this is a valuable read. 🔗 Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/evUhuid3 #davidclutterbuck #ccmi #coaching #mentoring #executivecoaching
Gill Caleary
3mo
Actually, today’s Board needs this Prof. David Clutterbuck, not tomorrow’s. I’ve worked close to, for and in Boards over my career - this is often the last concept on their mind - most fall into the traps you describe and I have too. It’s systemic and if you can’t see it, you can’t change it. I took myself out of these environments for this reason (add being a the female into the mix 🙁) and I have recalibrated my skills, I have an MA in coaching, accreditation and tons of corp experience. I’m an Exec Coach now - and I notice from my clients that we are still quite a way off from the recognition that exec and non-exec members really need to have coaching and mentoring skills and an overall approach that brings these to the fore. Still so much emphasis on technical experience, time served and compliance - and therefore a real ‘them n us’ triangle between the Board, the C-Suite and the Shareholders. It allows a command and control system and so much potential is left on the table…. Interestingly they often seek coaching for their CEO and don’t bring that concept into their own realm 🤷🏼♀️.
Tony Frost
3mo
Hi Prof. David Clutterbuck, well said indeed. Amongst other things, I am an executive coach (I was in the late, great Tony Grant’s last coaching class at USYD in 2019), a company director and I also now train company directors at the Australian Institute of Company Directors. What you say makes total sense. However, traditionally, company directors have not been trained to be “coach-like”. One simple example: company directors are often told that they need to use the “why” question, a lot, with company executives when they appear in the board room. As coaches, we know that “why” questions have to be used carefully and sparingly, if at all. In my experience, company directors do not usually have this sense. This is just one simple example. I completely agree with the statement in your full blog that: “Coaching and mentoring must become core competences for executive and non-executive directors”. Making this actually happen in practice will be a substantial project, requiring involvement not just from leading companies and their directors, but from assorted bodies around the world who help to train company directors.
Debbie Beaven
3mo
Totally agree David - it’s why I trained as an Executive Coach as I built my NED portfolio. I’ve seen the ugly side of adversarial Boards and how divisive and damaging they can be for individuals and for organisational culture. Unitary boards that support, empower and elevate curiosity and listening as key behaviours create better conditions for accelerating success.
Crystal Wirman
3mo
Excellent insight, Professor Clutterbuck. Coaching and mentoring at the board level aren’t just about developing individuals, they’re about strengthening the system itself. When directors engage continuously and use their wisdom to elevate executive thinking, governance becomes more responsive, relevant, and human-centered.
Raj Bowen
3mo
Prof. David Clutterbuck this makes a lot of sense IF more board members are genuinely committed to supporting the success of an organisation's core purpose and not there for the social labels and the rather fat honorarium. So, maybe the base level need needs revisiting- whether most boards have the right members. Till then 'garbage in, garbage out'!
I completely support this Prof. David Clutterbuck, one huge benefit of coaching at this level, is that it filters down as a default leadership behavior for other leaders to learn from and adopt themselves.
Harriet Bodö
3mo
I totally agree with you Prof. David Clutterbuck, thank you for bringing up an important topic. My add on to this is that to get in coaching and mentoring for real in the board's work it is needed for them to also have coaches and mentors themselves. The best way to learn how to practice is to be on the other side of the table too.
The more people understand the difference between mentoring and coaching the better. Mentoring is all the wonderful wise advice and support you can receive from someone who has been there. Coaching is not about content but the field of thinking that generates the content - the limiting beliefs, habits of thought that stop us from being fully agile and empowered. Mentoring is focused on the figure and coaching on the ground. There is so much unused power that can be tapped into when we step back and explore what is generating our thinking, our actions and our behavior. To me this is the area that we will all be discovering more about in the next decade. And it unlocking this potential that will add value to anything that AI might do better than us.