Part 3: The Urgent Need for a Future-Ready Board
~ Dr. Justo Ortiz of UnionBank ‘shows us the money’!
Or, how to bring in the money, at the very least.
To be future-ready, one has to be future-thinking. Ortiz’s UnionBank seemingly is ahead of counterparts supported by some digital banking excellence global awards. The bank’s Board has ‘Future-ready’ written on its target bull’s eye.
The old model does not work anymore. The constant nagging of ‘Change in mindset’ beats ‘Unlearn and relearn only by a few blips.
The bank’s Vice-Chairman is quick to the draw, stating, “People get to be on the Board by being very successful people. But that heuristics no longer produce predicted outcomes as we get deeper and deeper into the Fourth Industrial Age, even though they were very valuable in the previous Industrial Age.”
In UnionBank, each director has goals. Specific ones go into the collective Board goals, and separate personal goals are set to build their own capabilities and accomplishments.
On paper, it’s a simple 4-step process:
1. Discover: How to help the organization meet goals, advance its vision, identify its uniqueness, as well as its competition. Also, what are the barriers, and what might be done differently
2. Synthesize: Summarize insights and recommendations culled from focused discussions with management and Board
3. Activate: Create activities that move the insights forward, and strengthen the efforts, inspiring mindset changes, and building portfolios of Board directors; directly answer the challenges of being future-ready, and being equipped to steer the organization into the future
4. Review: More than monthly meetings, hold quarterly meetings to review actions versus Board moves and Personal moves per Director.
Four simple steps might seem tenuous, but being future ready need not be complex. It’s taking the first few steps that ultimately gets things done.
Ortiz shares, “Future-ready Boards ask, ‘where, and with whom do I connect to learn from, and get the right information to stay relevant? How do I close the gap between ideas and execution? And, how can I learn how to shape the environment? ***