Corporate Governance: The Basic Essentials for a Director’s Induction

Corporate Governance: The Basic Essentials for a Director’s Induction

Every company will always appoint directors to its board so it’s a no-brainer that a Director induction will be required. It is important, to deliver a well-planned and comprehensive induction to any new director.

An ‘Induction’ provides your newly-appointed director with the information needed to be effective in their strategic leadership role.  An induction process will help your director:

1. get an understanding and insight of the company, its business, and the business sector within which it operates.
2. receive an overview and understanding of the company’s stakeholders.
3. receive the highlights of his/her role.
4. understand the governance framework within which the board operates.
5. establish a relationship with the management of the company.

Tailor your Induction to meet the specific needs of your director, and especially avoid repeating information that your director already knows. Your induction doesn’t have to be cookie-cutter or boring, you can deliver inductions by 1-2-1 sessions, e-training, seminars, webinars, or classroom training. On the other hand, you can merge it into an ongoing training & development calendar.

Our Essential tips for your director’s induction are:

• meet with your director to discuss how best to tailor the induction for its content and delivery. Even an experienced director might need a touch-up on certain subject matters he has previously encountered.
• set the schedule for your induction to maximise your director’s attention-span. A six-hour induction will yield very little result (due to overload), instead you can deliver two three-hour sessions, which might prove more productive.
• don’t overload your director with information. Break your induction programme into three timelines covering: essential & immediate (must be delivered before the first board meeting); important & necessary (to be provided within three months of appointment); and desirable & useful (discretionary delivery over time).
• review your induction programme at the mid-way point, and seek feedback from the director so you can use it to consider future inductions, or even change the current induction.

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