It’s a scenario many board members may have faced: A long-serving member and founder of a not-for-profit has almost come to blows with the Chairman – a relative newcomer with only a few years on the board – over differences of opinion on operational issues and visions for the future.
The Chairman is facing resistance to his push to develop new strategies to attract new members, and the long-serving member is not showing any sign of resigning, despite being asked.
And now you have now been asked, as a qualified company director who has just gained your first board position with the association, to advise the Chairman on how to proceed while avoiding a protracted legal battle.
How would you go about making sure things don’t ‘get nasty’?
This is one of the two dilemmas boardroom expert and corporate governance guru Julie Garland McLellan will be discussing at The Directors’ Dilemma live virtual workshop on 7 July.
Click to see this month's Dilemmas (Dilemma 1 - Dilemma 2)
In the series of popular workshops, Julie has been looking at real dilemmas faced by board members.
Run as an interactive classroom session for Full, Premium and Corporate members of WOB, Director's Dilemmas requires you to read two short case studies based on real events and then come together to discuss how you would approach this as a board member.
The session is expertly facilitated by Julie, one of the most highly qualified people in the country to help boards reach their full potential in adding value to the company they govern.
WOB member Eva Burgess said she found the Directors Dilemmas workshop "extremely interesting and useful".
"There is nothing better than being prepared for a situation, than having though through something similar before," she said. "Julie guides the conversation to make sure participants solve the case studies and her experience and clarity of thought bring so much to the learning experience. Highly recommended, I will be doing more."
About Julie
English-born Julie was born in England, raised in Northern Ireland and Peru, earned an MBA from one of the world's leading management schools in Madrid, worked in senior management roles including as CEO with a worldwide corporation, and now lives and works in Australia which includes serving on a number of Boards.
Her experience and perspective, as well as her training in corporate and public governance, makes her one of the most highly qualified individuals in the country to help Boards reach their full potential in adding value to the company they govern. For the past 20+ years she has been a lead facilitator on the AICD Company Directors Program - training more than 3,000 people.
Landing in Melbourne in 1994, Julie secured a job at BHP. She was, at one stage, the most senior woman in the company when she was responsible for the strategic planning for all BHP's operations in Latin America.
Julie started her Board career while at BHP, completing a Company Director diploma and finding her first Board position with the Melbourne University Engineering Foundation. Since that time, she has been a member of a number of Boards including the Victorian Chamber of Mines, Melbourne Water, City West Water, and VENCorp, the state-owned body that manages Victoria's energy markets and transmission lines.
After leaving BHP in 2001, Julie took up a series of senior strategic roles across the next five years that included a General Manager position at KPMG and being CEO of Gamesa Energy Australia, a Spanish-based company and the largest developer of wind farms in the world.
for Directors Dilemma on 7 July, 12pm-1pm
This is a event is restricted to FULL, PREMIUM and CHAMPION member. Click here to join