As we move toward a more visionary corporate governance and embrace emerging best practices in the industry, we see old playbooks and outdated thinking fall away one conference room at a time. A key element of this shift is inclusion and diversity in the boardroom and C-suite. For some, the shift toward inclusion and diversity is well-underway and the advantages are self-evident. For others, this nascent change is just getting started.
At every stage, we believe that intelligent technology can be end-to-end scaffolding for inclusion and board diversity in visionary corporate governance. In fact, the belief that smart technology is uniquely positioned to support the shift toward greater diversity in corporate leadership is one of the bedrock reasons our founders came together after decades of sitting in boardrooms and C-suites ourselves. A board portal alone is not enough. Cloud Concinnity® is the kind of smart technology that supports visionary leadership teams from end-to-end for building diverse intelligence into their boardroom and C-suite processes and dialogue.
This is what smarter technology delivers:
1. Everyone Hits the Ground Running
Think back to when you started on your first board. Did anyone fully explain what your role as a board member was and what management would be doing? Or did you get a partial explanation and then… silence. Until, of course, you were expected to deliver value at that first board meeting. When any new person joins the board, they need to get up to speed before they can contribute. That’s just one way that having a diverse board is about more than having token women and minority professionals at the table. It’s about opening the room to a dialogue that actively recruits and incorporates a diversity of opinion and intelligence by getting everyone on the same page from day one.
Intelligent technology is built on the assumption that institutional knowledge needs to be passed on, and that passing it on is not the highest and best use of leadership’s time. Technology that lays out and reinforces roles & responsibilities of each board member starting on day one means far less confusion. And when roles are changed, clarifying conversations of the changes being documented and shared promotes continued clarity.
2. Your Team Has Conversational Superpowers
The reality of modern work is that boards and leadership teams work remotely, while traveling and at asynchronous times. It can be a challenge to ensure that everyone’s opinion is included whenever it can be of value, especially during periods of innovation. The solution? An integrated technology that proactively draws diverse intelligence by pulling in everyone’s opinion and perspective when crafting strategy and guidance.
We built in the ability to have better asynchronous conversations by making sure that everyone has access to the most up to date information at all times. This creates a culture of elevated engagement by gaining input from the various perspectives. It also drives a culture of transparency in decision making that empowers leadership.
Emphasizing the need for other perspectives that are not our own when setting and re-evaluating strategy means diverse thinking becomes part of the DNA of everything you do. If this isn’t how your board operates today, this technology will meet you where you are. It will introduce workflows that evaluate the perspectives now needed in the boardroom and gently drives the process towards supplying what has been missing. If this is already the habit in your organization, technology will make it easier.
And imagine sitting down at your next board meeting with a strong habit of getting everyone involved in the conversation — online or off, that’s a conversational superpower.
3. You Always Remember The Right Questions
One of the biggest advantages that an inclusive and diverse board membership offers is intelligence by way of multi-faceted perspectives, and that means asking more of the right questions, every time. We believe in tweaking the “checklist manifesto” thinking making sure we are always asking 360 degrees of questions. The result? A diversity of opinion, perspective and voice becomes and remains a priority, no matter what the topic.
When technology does the busywork, leadership has the freedom to think deeply. Time at your in-person meetings is preserved to really dig in to the diversity of opinion always waiting to make a team better.
4. Everyone Gets to Be More Human
Software exists to take work off of human shoulders. Instead of drowning in minutiae we need time and space to use our brains. A tool like Cloud Concinnity automates information-gathering checklists, keeps track of complicated timelines, and embeds best practices into every workflow so that it’s literally impossible to fall behind the curve.
Within Cloud Concinnity are workflows that ensure the board team is in sync with the best ideas in the industry. Coordinating hundreds of pieces of information to evaluate the state of the organization’s culture? SOX compliance? There’s a built-in workflow for oversight of that. Keeping current and past board information and notes in one place? There’s a built-in information workflow for that. Creating a forward-thinking and diverse board? There’s a board composition workflow for that. Indeed, technology can be a process-driver for change that gives us wings.
5. You Get to the Future First
Change can be overwhelming or empowering depending on how it is planned for and managed. As consultants, we spent much of our time coaching companies on updating their processes to take advantage of best practices. With Cloud Concinnity, we update the technology in line with best practices as they emerge so that our users are always in the lead.
This means staying out in front of changes in compliance, engagement, and self-measurement before you even know that those changes are happening. And that means making a commitment to diverse thinking that supports a truly visionary board and form of corporate governance. You don’t have to decide on each change — you just have to decide that you want to stay on top of best practices. We bake it into your experience so you are always out in front.
We are building this kind of powerful, robust future right now into the code of Cloud Concinnity, and we are already seeing teams make meaningful changes. Teams will use this kind of smart technology to bring greater diversity to the boardroom and empower more diverse voices and opinions as these new leadership teams come together. The future needs a visionary way to support and empower diversity in our leadership and corporate governance, and the way to make that future happen is coming into focus right now.
Interested in how Cloud Concinnity can support diversity on your team? Get in touch with us and we'll tell you how.
The Concinnity Company™ provides boards and c-suites with technology and best practices. Cloud Concinnity® is the world’s first integrated board intelligence and management platform. To learn more about how Cloud Concinnity can help you get in front of digital transformation, visit https://www.theconcinnitycompany.com.
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