Carol Ward BoardOps January 28, 2022

Transform Your Board Workflows

People sometimes hesitate to change. Here are a few ways to overcome that hesitation and transform you board workflows. Start with the right board management platform.

Build Buy-In

Often, a designated Legal Ops/IT committee is charged with selecting tech platforms destined for Legal Department use. These “selectors” can gain valuable insights from “future users” while also building enthusiasm for a new platform. Board management platform users are varied: Board members, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Governance team members, C-Suite members, the Chief Accounting Officer, the VP of Compensation, other members of the Legal Department, VP of Investor Relations, and others beyond the Legal Department who frequently work on board-related matters.

What kind of insights to seek? About what workflows are working well, what could work better. What elements could be better integrated. About current tools; about a “dream machine” for current and future needs. Goals for a new platform. Aspirations for their colleagues and board.

Listen. Use the insights to build support for and educate future users about the benefits of a new board management platform.

Select a Platform for Now and Into the Future

You asked. You heard. Now, select a board management platform based on those valuable insights – factoring into your decision the inevitable (but sometimes unpredictable) changes to come.

Select the platform that users will actually use. That means one with an intuitive and logical user interface for its varied users (not just developers).

Select is the one that does what your varied users need doing – easier, better and faster than current methods. Choose one that integrates and elevates multiple processes into a single platform – to create a single source of truth for those processes and board-related information. Pick the one that brings relevant internal and external information resources into a single platform.

Make Platform Adoption Easy

  • Identify a core implementation team to partner with your platform provider.
  • Identify advocates for the platform to help the hesitators get over their reluctance.
  • Do as much as possible before rollout. Data transfer. Add new and expanded data. Conduct quality assurance.
  • Customize. Every company and C-Suite has worklow preferences. Best to address those before rollout. Customize report formats. Put the company logo on the welcome screen.

Build a Collaborative Relationship with Your Users and Platform Provider

Change is inevitable. Engage regularly with your users to obtain ongoing feedback and suggestions for further workflow and software improvements. Partner with your platform provider about evolving the platform to meet your emerging needs and workflows.

Summing Up…

A thoughtful and engaged approach to change management and a strong, ongoing relationship with your board management platform provider can oversome hesitation, increase your team’s near-term speed, depth of adoption, and long-term enthusiasm for your new board management platform and resulting improvements.

ForesightBoardOps Toolbox transforms how boards and governance professionals work. It enables you to elevate both your board workflows and board effectiveness – and drive value creation.

To learn more, click here: ForesightBoardOps Toolbox.