70. Director orientation/onboarding (definition)
NOTE: if you’re new to Ground-Up Governance, or are finding anything a bit strange or confusing, you might want to START HERE.
This is the 70th Ground-Up Governance definition. That’s a lot of jargon, and there’s lots more to come. If you click through some of the archives, you’ll notice that some of the words might not even seem like jargon on the surface. Words like “volunteer” or “independence” or “consensus” might even be words that you use when you’re not talking about corporate governance at all.
“OK we’ve enjoyed the nuttiness of the National Archives Museum gift shop1 but can’t decide what to do next. Could someone please volunteer to help build consensus on whether we should go look at the Declaration of Independence?”
Now, if you:
take all of the words we’ve defined so far, and
trust us when we say that there are *a lot* more words left to define, and
consider that many of these words will have different implications for different people in different corporations, then
it won’t be hard for you to believe that there’s a tonne of stuff for a director to learn when they join a new board. That’s where director orientation/onboarding comes in. It’s really just the process of helping a new director to know how to do their job well.
A lot of boards will openly admit that they don’t do a very good job at director onboarding. Mostly because it’s hard…for all the reasons we’ve already mentioned, and more. But it can help to think about what *you* might want to know if you were joining a board, whether for the first time or 1000th time.
For instance, you might want to have some time to meet all the other directors and senior executives. You might want to have a chance to review some pre-reads from previous board meetings. You might want to learn about the corporation’s strategy and risk management. You might want to sit in on some committee meetings or review your fiduciary duties or meet some important stakeholders.
It is (or should be) all fair game when it comes to onboarding. In fact, you might want to take some time to make sure that you know exactly what your fellow board members mean when *they* say “volunteer” or “independence” or “consensus”. Just to make sure you’re all on the same page.
Photo evidence of the nuttiness of the National Archives Museum gift shop. I mean, the rolling suitcase…