If it’s a role on an organization’s board to increase credibility for your career or a role that helps you upskill to further your professional development, serving on corporate boards can help build a variety of important skills. Collaboration skills are the most important. They cover how you interact with and collaborate with other board members, as well as members from more recent functional and business areas.
In addition, to these vital abilities, the job of a board member requires you to be aware of risks, which can include cybersecurity, regulatory changes, threats as well as competitive issues and industry turmoil. Identifying these challenges will help your company to avoid major problems which can negatively impact your company’s performance and reputation.
As a member of the board you should be able and able to manage time effectively. This means giving a timely summary of the board meeting agenda to board members, so they can go over the agenda and prepare for the meeting. This also includes being capable of answering questions at the meeting efficiently and clearly.
You should also be able to share your files with other board members. These are typically committee reports or other documents related to the duties of the board, such as HR reports, financial statements and legal updates. This is where board management software can simplify the process by permitting you to upload and share all these documents in one place. This means that your board members can easily access the information they require to make better decisions.