Addressing the Complexity Gap: Developing Integrated Thinking Skills at Board Level

• Date: 01 January 2016
• Author: Matthew Rich‐Tolsma,John Oliver
• Published date: 01 January 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/bl.30034

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

BEING REAL ABOUT

GOVERNANCE .......................... 4

FOOD FOR THOUGHT .................. 4

NEWS ..................................... 7

NUMBER 143, JAN.–FEB. 2016

www.boardleadershipnewsletter.com

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Addressing the Complexity

Gap: Developing Integrated

Thinking Skills at Board Level

by Matthew Rich-Tolsma and John Oliver

Drawing on insights from adult developmental psychology, Matthew Rich-Tolsma

and John Oliver, certied consultants with Lectica, Inc., highlight the explicit

thinking skills that are unique to the challenges at the board level, in the context

of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) in the world.

The invitation is for boards to think about their thinking skills, with the help of the

latest research in frameworks of integrated thinking skills.

BOARD LEADERSHIP

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO GOVERNANCE

View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com

Board Leadership • DOI: 10.1002/bl • Jan.-Feb. 2016

What is it exactly that boards do?

As Peter Drucker and others

have pointed out,1 many boards seem

to perform an essentially ornamental

function in the face of the increas-

ingly complex and competitive land-

scapes in which they find themselves.

In the midst of this, however, John

and Miriam Carver have been notable

in consistently reminding us that

boards have an essential role to play

in looking out for the interests of the

owners of businesses and serving to

provide essential ethical oversight to

organizations.2 In particular, in setting

out the Policy Governance® frame-

work, they have provided a system

of principles and processes to guide

board functioning, but what exactly

do these kinds of processes require

of board members in terms of capa-

bilities? In other words, what distin-

guishes governing from other work in

and on the business, and what unique

thinking skills does it require of board

members?

One way that we can appreciate

the unique nature of the task placed

before board members is to view it

in a developmental context. Elliott

Jaques’s3 theory of requisite organiza-

tion provides us with one framework

for doing this, building upon seven

stratified levels of work, each with

their own hierarchically distinct capa-

bility as identified by Gillian Stamp.4

Whereas the earlier levels of work

are concerned with an organization’s

operations and generating value for

the organization in the present, the

later levels are orientated toward

generating value for the future of

the organization. These later levels

of work complexity involve engag-

ing time scales extending several

years into the future and require an

FEBRUARY 19–20, 2016

International Policy

Governance Association

(IPGA) Consultants’ Forum

— Orlando, Florida, USA

One of the two major oppor-

tunities IPGA provides each year

for consultants and experienced

practitioners (defined as those

who have worked with their

board using the Policy Gover-

nance system for at least two full

annual monitoring cycles) is to get

together for enriched learning

and networking with expert pre-

sentations and lively discussion.

A major feature to this Forum will

be a full-day examination of the

rationale for the use of negative

language within the Policy Gover-

nance system.

For more information e-mail

ceo@policygovernanceassociation

.org.

MARCH 11–12, 2016

An Introductory Training

in Policy Governance

— Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

No prior knowledge of the Pol-

icy Governance model is required.

Conducted by Miriam Carver.

For more information see

http://www.carvergovernance

.com/train.htm.

EVENTS

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