Cultivating Good Board Discussions

I recently responded to Mark Athitakis’ question: What do you do to sensibly cultivate dissent among your board and top leaders?

We find that the willingness to dissent is not the primary issue. Considering options and not just recommendations is the key to avoiding the consequences identified in the research Mark cited.

The process for making decisions will determine whether choices are sufficiently explored. Dissent is a yes or no proposition. Effective decision making involves options. The solution lies in having a process that considers a menu of choices and requires a robust discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each choice.

Effective associations avoid the negative consequences of either no dissent or dysfunctional conflict by employing knowledge based governance strategy. This approach (it is not a formula) requires:

informed examination of the context,
identification of choices,
assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of each choice, and
the development if consensus around what combination of actions represent the solution strategy with the highest probability of success.
Click here for more information on this process.