The Ground Has Shifted | A Governance Series | Post 3 of 6

Last week I asked, what is the board not seeing? Today I want to ask something related, when is the board seeing it?

Many boards meet quarterly. In the lead-up, papers are drafted, reviewed, internally signed off and distributed. A process designed to give directors time to read board papers in advance of the meeting.

The difficulty is that by the time directors read those papers, they are often looking at a picture of reality as it was understood three to four weeks earlier. In a slower world, that lag was manageable. In an environment defined by fast-moving, interconnected and compounding risk, a great deal can shift in that timeframe.

A board operating to a single rhythm can find itself well-calibrated to ensure regulatory, strategic and oversight duties are met. But may find itself less calibrated for the early signal, the slow-building risk, the shifts that don't surface in any single quarter's numbers.

The question is not whether quarterly boards are wrong.
🕰️ It is whether the quarterly cycle is the only rhythm in the system.
🕰️ It is whether that system is designed to sense what is actually happening, or to confirm what management has already interpreted.

Some questions worth sitting with:
❓ Does our governance cadence reflect our current risk profile or a more stable era?
❓ Is our governance keeping pace with our risks or catching up to it?
❓ Does our governance system have a pathway for the urgent, the unexpected and the not yet fully formed?