The boardroom is not a Blackberry patch: it's time to pay even greater attention to board meeting etiquette.

• Author: Levick, Richard S.
• Position: ENDNOTE

DURING BOARD MEETINGS, the CEO of one company made a habit of checking his Blackberry every couple of minutes. He probably thought he was making the most of his time. After all, one of the signature abilities of any business leader is juggling multiple tasks without letting anything crash. Yet, with that seemingly innocuous habit, the CEO was unwittingly putting his entire company at risk.

When a crisis occurs, any corporation naturally looks to its board for wisdom, a shared sense of purpose, and strong, firm advice. A board's guidance can make or break a company facing a life-threatening emergency. But just as a football team can't start learning its plays during the Super Bowl, a board of directors cannot be expected to find its shared identity and purpose after a crisis has already begun. The qualities that define your board are shaped during peacetime, through many small acts that collectively reinforce or undermine its ability to be effective in times of need.

In the case of that wild-sprouting Blackberry, the CEO's discreet peeks were quickly interpreted by board members as license to take care of their own outside business instead of the business at hand. Implicitly, "every director had permission to check their Blackberrys. Then, every senior executive present said, 'OK, those are the standards,'" recalls Stuart R. Levine, who was a director for the company. "The board sets the tone at the top of an organization, so I can only imagine what kinds of behaviors were being duplicated throughout the company."

As Levine points out, checking your messages amid a meeting "is a classic way of telling people, "What you're saying is important to me--sort of.'"

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In addition to serving on many boards himself, Levine is founder and CEO of Stuart Levine & Associates LLC, which helps international companies on issues such as governance, leadership, and organizational effectiveness, and is a former CEO of Dale Carnegie & Associates Inc.

Attention to the mundane details, and to the logistics and processes that pertain to every board-related event, has enormous impact on how boards function during crises and stressful periods. "There will be a time in the life of every corporation when there is a crisis," says Levine. "The fundamental principle in life and business success is respectful relationships. Respectful relationships are tethered to how we function together around that boardroom table."

These crucial details include:

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