By Johnson Manyakara

“Governance arguably suffers most when boards spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror and not enough (time) scanning the road ahead” – Christian Casal & Christian Casper, February 2014, McKinsey Quarterly

“Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made” – Wayne Dyer

Boards have two choices in terms of the philosophy that should guide the execution of their mandates, accountable to shareholders. Either they take the “Strictly Compliance Route” or the “Compliance + Route”.

The “Strictly Compliance Route” entails being obsessed with “looking in the rear view mirror” of one’s organisation with very little time spent on “scanning the road ahead” (see illustration below).

The “Compliance + Route”, on the other hand, entails balancing between a focus on board compliance issues and looking further ahead on matters crucial to the prosperity and direction of the organisation – “scanning the road ahead” (see illustration below).

This discussion seeks to explore the implications of either of these two choices that boards are at liberty to make as they go about providing direction and support to Executive Teams.  It also seeks to discuss ways boards can achieve the right balance.

(To be continued)