Board Transition and Acceleration: Challenges and Best Practices
Strategic, proactive board member transitioning is vital to getting new members up to speed quickly and facilitating their sustained success. Effectiveness in identifying, cultivating, and integrating new directors is a defining trait of high-performing boards. The key is linking the process to organizational strategy: Where are we going and what competencies, characteristics, and experiences do we need in future board members to ensure success? Once we find those members, how can we pave the way for their immediate engagement and impact?
This article addresses the key stages of board member transition, as well as pitfalls and how they can be avoided and turned into strengths and opportunities. It also provides practical advice for accelerating the impact of new members in an era when boards, like their organizations, must stay sharp and pivot quickly.
Read the full article in PDF format here.
This article is reprinted with permission from The Governance Institute, Lincoln, Nebraska.
About the authors
Andrew Chastain
is Chief Executive Officer at WittKieffer and counsels boards and executive teams on some of their most consequential leadership decisions, including CEO transitions, executive appointments, and governance effectiveness. Drawing on experience spanning healthcare operations, strategy consulting, and executive search, he brings a distinctive perspective on the intersection of leadership, governance, and organizational performance while advising on CEO and board-level engagements across healthcare, academic medicine, and mission-driven organizations. He is a frequent speaker and author on governance, leadership, and succession.
Laura Orr
is Senior Partner and Global Board Advisory Leader at WittKieffer, where she partners with boards to strengthen governance and accelerate strategy execution. An experienced governance consultant, certified executive coach, and a former Chief Strategy and Governance Officer, Laura has both advised boards and served as the executive leader responsible for governance. Her work focuses on governance assessments, board and CEO succession planning, board development, board culture, and governance transformation, helping boards increase their impact during periods of growth, transition, and complexity.
Susan M. Snyder
is Executive Partner and Global Leadership Advisory Leader at WittKieffer and works closely with boards, CEOs, and executive teams on leadership transitions, succession, culture, and organizational transformation. Susan has coached numerous board directors, CEOs, and senior executives and is particularly known for her work at the intersection of succession, top-team effectiveness, leadership culture, and organizational performance. Her work spans leadership transitions at the board, CEO, and executive levels, helping organizations build the leadership capacity needed to navigate complexity and accelerate impact.
