…for Sustainable Development Goals and beyond
In 2008, Sharon Allen, Chair of the Board of Deloitte LLP said,
“Yet there’s one thing about boards that will be just as valid tomorrow as it is today. Boards are a vital corporate asset. As such, boards can decide to invest in strengthening their own dynamics just as they might decide to invest in any other asset that would strengthen the balance sheet. Investing in the ABCs of corporate governance may be a good place to start. By enhancing their members’ ability to relate, think, and act, today’s boards can become a competitive advantage — and an example for how their enterprises can embrace the future.”
The skilled boards are investing in these ABSs (attitudes, behaviours, and candour) – and yet scandals abound that tell us that things are not progressing as well as they could.
Roll forward to 2019, just before the outbreak of Covid-19, the Global Board of Deloitte appointed its first woman as Chair, Sharon Thorne, a committed leadership developer and advocate of diversity and inclusion across the business. How are your boards working with the lived realities involved in boardroom diversity?
A commitment to the development of effective, inclusive boardrooms with the capacity to work with difference and diversity to drive the bottom line, is easy to say, but harder to embody. We still have too few C-Suite executives fully grounded in the complex dynamics that drive human behaviour and functioning in the boardroom, too few women and non-white people in board positions. Why is this circumstance so enduring?
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations has been the aperture of choice for leaders wishing to develop their capacity to see and work with the hidden, sometimes unconscious forces that operate below the surface in organisational life.
The changes facing organisations in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are profound, arguably the most challenging of all is how we think about and understand the complexities of money. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) will radically change the whole financial landscape, not just for institutions but for individuals.
A recent article published by Deloitte says:
“Currently, only commercial banks and certain permitted financial institutions can hold Central Bank money in the form of ‘reserves’ while the retail public can hold money issued by the Central Bank only in the form of physical bank notes. In its electronic form, CBDCs have the potential to be widely used by wholesale financial institutions, households, and businesses to store value and make payments in a more secure way.”
Systems of organisation and authorisation sit at the heart of boardroom functioning and are primary matters of equity and inclusion. If we are to meaningfully move toward and even achieve the Sustainable Development Goals agreed by the UN in the coming 8 years, board dynamics are a vital metric.
The Tavistock Institute’s Dynamics @ Board Level programme offers a space to experience and learn about the boardroom as a container for the forces that affect a total enterprise, whatever its size, shape or scope. The programme takes place in London, around the boardroom table at the Institute’s offices, and applications are now open.
Download the brochure. If you have any questions or want to find out more and to speak to one of the programme Directors or an alumnus, please contact Emily Kyte.
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