The role of the Board in building leadership capacity, and the implications for HR professionals

 By Julie Jones and Wendy Knight

As contemporary HR leaders engage in building leadership capacity during a time of economic uncertainty, it would seem that HR’s reputational currency is at an all time high. No longer considered a “local HR matter”, building leadership capacity is recognized as a burning business issue commanding the attention of Executives and Board members around the globe.

There has never been a better time for HR leaders to step up, way up, and demonstrate their true value to the business. What have you done lately to increase your reputational currency with your Board of Directors? The following three key questions are steeped in research and are designed to stimulate your thinking and inspire you to seize the day – “carpe diem” – and shift into action:

1. How are you demonstrating the value of your HR practices to the Board with respect to how you are attracting, retaining and developing the right leadership to meet your organization’s strategic needs?

2. What have you done to create confidence at the Board level to demonstrate that HR really does have the reputational currency required to become a trusted business advisor?

3. How are you engaging Board members in dialogical thinking with respect to building leadership capacity and other critical leadership issues such as succession management and emerging leaders?

Traditionalists will argue that building leadership capacity belongs within the management realm; yet recent world events such as the various corporate scandals and fragile world economy have brought the integrity and importance of leadership to the forefront. Research indicates that the Board has a crucial role to play in ensuring the organization has the required leadership capacity. To help realize this new worldview HR needs to flex its proverbial muscle and find a way to get involved to move things forward; sooner rather than later.

On a very practical level, one way to get exposure to the Board is to educate members on the three distinct dimensions to building leadership capacity to ensure an organization’s competitive advantage: Leadership Behaviour, which helps to align and engage employees around a core business strategy; Leadership Culture, where customers’ value is the principal focus and leaders are centred around this, and Organizational Practices, which includes everything from customer service and product innovation to organizational design and financial and performance management.

Mathé Grenier, western region lead at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, is presenting The Role of the Board in Building Leadership Capacity at BC HRMA’s 49^th Annual Conference. For more information on this and other sessions, please refer to www.bchrma.org/conf2011.

Julie Jones, MA, PCC, CHRP and Wendy Knight, CMC, CHRP are senior consultants with Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions in Vancouver. Areas of focus include leadership and organizational development, leadership coaching, career management and transition. They can be reached at jjones@knightsbridge.ca, wknight@knightsbridge.ca or 604-678-9344.