5 Steps to the Boardroom
Where am I now? Where do I want to get to? Who can help? What Skills do I need? What Will I need When I’m there?
To get to the boardroom you have to be continuously developing yourself and you also have to make sure the timing is right. You can’t just wake up one day and decide you’re going to apply for a role on the board, even if you have vast experience and an extensive skills set. Like any career path, carving out the route to the top requires patience, preparation and self-awareness. 1.
Research
Researching and analysing what you need helps you to predict what route you need to take. Depending on your organization, you may be able to predict that there will be a vacancy with a particular job title on it within a projected timeframe. It may be that you see things are changing at such pace that it becomes clear what you need to do and when.
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2.
Alignment
Think about how a board appointment is actually going to suit you. A particular job won’t suit everybody and sometimes that is down to a question of skills and experience. Sometimes it’s down to your temperament and the pace at which you’re moving. You may be concerned that you’ll start struggling once you’re in the role. You need to be clear that the board life is going to suit you, because making a commitment to a boardroom role is one of the biggest things you can do in your career. 3.
Planning
Assuming that you’ve done your research, it’s time to think about how best to plan your route. You’ll have your own ideas but you’ll also want to take the best advice about this, from people who either are currently on the board or perhaps used to be and have now moved on in their life. Making your way to the boardroom is something that is typically not rushed. Plan your path with the advice of mentors. Plan what you should be doing with your time and your work to get what you want. 4.
Exposure
Work out how to get the best experience. This will determine the type of jobs you potentially have a chance of getting. You may need to move out of your comfort zone to learn about your organization in a different way. You may decide to let your employer relocate you overseas, or you could perform a different job function for a couple of years or work in a different part of the company. Doing any of these things will give you a deeper understanding of the organization and what it takes to get to its boardroom. 5.
Skills Development
Being a board director requires you to behave in a different way to when you were in a more junior role. As a board director your levels of accountability to stakeholders are quite significantly different to anything you’ve experienced before. Coupled with emotional intelligence, your skills set will help you make decisions with a greater degree of data analysis and thought. Think about the particular skills you’ll need to operate at senior executive level. If you make a commitment over time to developing the requisite skills, you’ll become an excellent candidate for a boardroom position. This checklist has been created by Position Ignition Ltd one of the UK’s leading career consulting companies. Please contact enquiries@positionignition.com for more information or to suggest additional resources. Follow us @PosIgnition www.positionignition.com