Page 79 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

FEATURE THE BOARD’S NEW INNOVATION IMPERATIVE

Directors say Facilitating creative abrasion is a delicate dance:

Boards that are too supportive fail to sufficiently chal-
they are wary people’s willingness to offer ideas.
lenge proposals, but too much confrontation can stifle
Redefining the partnership. Balancing the board’s
legal power and management’s executive power is not
of CEOs who easy, but for innovation discussions to happen, neither
side can dominate. Boards need to build a strong part-
nership with management and a sense of shared own-
“play it safe.” Wilson told us that unlike most boards, which meet
ership of the innovation strategy. Allstate CEO Tom
to discuss strategy once a year, his board holds two
separate strategy meetings: One is a dialogue about
the company’s capabilities and market position and is
focused on learning; the other is for decision making.
Some CEOs are getting more comfortable using the
board as a thought partner. One described his board
meetings now as “great idea-sparring sessions,” with
a healthy degree of conflict and debate. As one of his
board members admitted, she had to learn “how to
have her nose in, but her fingers out.” Understandably,
these sessions can be emotionally draining; some
CEOs said they felt that their boards sometimes over-
stepped or “came on too strong.” The CEO of a Fortune
100 retailer told us, “I’ve learned from watching other
CEOs and boards that if a board gets too far in the
weeds, it is deadly.” Boards can avoid these issues by
clarifying expectations at the outset.

108 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017