7 Reasons Board Communication Fails (And How to Prevent It)
Over my time, I have worked with executive teams experiencing particularly difficult relationships with their boards and while they pay me well, here are the tips for free. My advice would be to read carefully, rinse and repeat.
What struck me immediately was that the skills they needed were not the skills they thought they needed.
The head of engineering, for example, could believe his superior technical knowledge would provide all the armour and ammunition required. He knows the subject better than anyone else in the room. Surely, his reasoning would tell him, the sheer force of his expertise would sway the doubters and protect him from attack.
He may be in for a surprise.
Anyone who thinks knowledge alone will carry the day need only look at contemporary political debate. Suffice to say, the argument is rarely decided by policy detail alone.
Moving from industry expert to organisational leader requires a significant shift in thinking. Your expertise remains essential, but it is now the entry ticket, not the performance.
Leadership requires you to manage yourself, read the room and communicate your knowledge in a form other people can hear.
That can involve a degree of performance that makes some technical experts distinctly uncomfortable. I am not talking about acting or pretending. I am talking about managing your physical reactions, choosing your language and remaining effective when every fibre of your body would rather launch a counterattack.
First, stop deciding that everyone else is an idiot
There is little benefit in entering a boardroom convinced that everyone opposing you is incompetent.
Even when the evidence is mounting.
I have a private mantra I occasionally mumble to myself:
“Forgive them, Lord. They know not what they say.”
It puts a smile on my dial rather than a frown on my face.
You may need a different mantra. Find one that interrupts the internal outrage and gives you a moment of perspective. The purpose is not sainthood. It is self-management.
Because the moment contempt appears in your face, your credibility begins to leak out of the room.
Recognise what stress does to your body
The next step is understanding your physiological response.
Under pressure, the body produces measurable changes in breathing, muscle tension, eye movement and facial expression. These are the same types of reactions monitored by a lie detector, which should provide a useful warning: even when you are telling the truth, unmanaged stress can make you appear defensive, evasive or untrustworthy.
The solution is not to “relax”.
That is usually unrealistic advice when several board members are staring at you as though you personally designed the problem, installed it and sent them the invoice.
The objective is to remain physically functional.
Keep breathing
Under stress, many people jam the diaphragm and hold their breath.
Once you recognise it, undo it.
I use Kapalabhati breathing to release the diaphragm and re-establish movement. You may have another technique that works for you. The method matters less than the outcome: your breath must continue to move.
Without breath, the voice tightens, the sentences shorten and the brain begins operating with all the elegance of a supermarket trolley with one defective wheel.
Release the head and face
Many people tell me, “My face gives me away.”
Well, here is a radical thought: perhaps it does not have to.
Again, the task is to recognise the automatic stress response and deliberately counteract it.
When pressure rises:
The head locks. Undo it with a small, natural nod.
The eyes set. Blink.
The mouth seals. Press the tongue against the roof of the mouth, release the jaw and allow a slight smile.
This is not conventional body language designed merely to manipulate how others perceive you. It is about restoring movement so that you feel more grounded, capable and internally congruent.
That is a fundamental part of Gravitas.
Never speak under pressure without a framework
The final danger is rambling.
When people feel challenged, they often begin talking before they know where the sentence is going. They add detail, correct themselves, introduce another example and eventually disappear into a verbal forest from which no board member expects them to return.
This is where verbal frameworks become indispensable.
There are frameworks for almost every situation: answering a straightforward question, responding to a hostile question, correcting a false premise, shifting the topic, acknowledging uncertainty or delivering an unwelcome recommendation.
A simple structure for answering a straightforward question is:
State your answer in three words.
Then:
Give three supporting points.
Repeat the central answer.
Stop speaking.
For example:
“Delay the launch.”
There are three reasons: the testing is incomplete, the operational risk remains too high and the customer communication is not ready.
For those reasons, my recommendation is to delay the launch.
Then stop.
Do not add six more paragraphs because somebody raised an eyebrow.
Under pressure, never open your mouth without knowing the structure you intend to follow.
Knowledge is not the problem
In difficult board interactions, your technical knowledge may be excellent. That is usually a given.
The skills you need to build are different:
A constructive internal mindset
Controlled breathing
Physical and facial neutrality
Clear verbal frameworks
These skills will not make every board member agree with you. Nor should they.
They will, however, help you remain credible, coherent and influential when the pressure rises.
And they may just save your sanity.
Love,
Dr Louise Mahler