Thrive with Your Personal Board
We are halfway through August, a time when many students have started or will be returning to school soon to further their learning. This is the perfect time to reflect on how we are developing and learning as leaders, and understand why building a personal board is essential for our leadership growth and development. This topic keeps coming up as I speak with other leaders in the community who did not realize they had a board. This is my "why" for spending time with you on the topic “Thrive with Your Personal Board”.
A personal board is a group individuals who can provide you with guidance, support, and advice in your personal and professional life.
The purpose of a personal board is to help you identify and achieve your goals, provide feedback, and hold you accountable. Your board can also provide perspective and help you navigate challenging situations.
A personal board provides value in various ways including, opening doors to other opportunities, expanding your network, providing support, developing you, advocating for you, and helping you drive action towards your goals.
We are at different stages of our journey with our personal board. For some, this is an opportunity to reflect on and evolve your board. For those of you who do not feel you have a personal board, read further as you might be surprised to learn you are further along than you think.
1. Determine Why You Want a Personal Board
Before selecting members for your board, it’s essential for you to understand why you want a board. A time someone might consider building a board is early in their career or if they are making a significant career change, however, the reasons vary throughout one’s career. There are four steps to explore as you consider your “why” for wanting a board:
Gain clarity on what you want to achieve
Know your value and advocate for yourself
Identify growth opportunities
Define expertise, experiences, and qualities you seek from others
Addressing these steps will help to position you well as you consider the characteristics you seek in board members.
2. Build Your Personal Board
Consider the characteristics you seek in others for roles on your personal board. First, identify board members who can help you with your goals, leveraging their knowledge, expertise, and experiences. Select board members who will support, challenge, encourage, and celebrate you. Seek board members with diverse backgrounds, skills, and perspectives. Choose board members you trust and can invest in too. It’s important to communicate what’s in it for them when you ask them to be part of your personal board.
Board roles include:
Coach: helps you identify and achieve specific goals; develops new skills and knowledge to reach your full potential
Mentor: focuses on your overall career growth and development; provides guidance and support for long-term professional growth
Sponsor: promotes you to others to help advance your career; ensures your talent does not go unnoticed
Expert: someone who has a specific skill or knowledge you seek; helps you develop that specific skill or knowledge - growth opportunity
Peer: someone who serves a similar role or has same position as you in your organization or industry; you are comfortable learning and developing each other
Other: those who fill any gap on your board; this varies by individual and examples include family member, friend, direct manager, someone you admire professionally
A board member could represent more than one role. Focus on quality and relevance of a board member instead of quantity. A good target is 5-10 board members, depending on your needs. Build a board that works best for you. You may not fill all the roles and that is OK. You may have multiple boards, each focusing on a different aspect of your life, and that is OK too.
3. Hold Yourself Accountable to Your Personal Board
Fostering meaningful relationships and cultivating authentic connections based on trust and mutual respect will go a long way with your board members. Invest time and effort in nurturing these relationships. Actively seek advice, share your successes and challenges, and offer support in return. A strong rapport with your board members will create a supportive environment where you can thrive.
Listen to understand and have a growth mindset. One of the primary roles of your personal board is to provide you honest feedback and guidance. Create a culture within your personal board where candid discussions are encouraged, and everyone feels comfortable offering and receiving feedback. Constructive feedback, even when it’s tough to hear, offers invaluable insights that can propel you forward. Be curious. Ask questions to make sure you understand their feedback. You may not have the bandwidth to address all the feedback and that is OK. Determine the feedback you need to prioritize to help you achieve your goals.
Thank each board member for their role and value. They are investing their time in you so expressing your appreciation goes a long way. While you may not take action on all the feedback provided to you, it is important your board members know you value their perspective. When you take action on their feedback, it is helpful for them to hear the outcome and learnings.
4. Operationalize and Evolve Your Personal Board
It is important to communicate expectations with your board members. For example, how much time do you expect you will need from your personal board? Do plan to manage your board informally (reach out as needed) or formally (meet with group on a cadence)? It is OK if you are not sure about the time commitment or format as you form your personal board - the important point is to communicate.
Clearly communicate your agenda and asks in advance of your meetings and be prepared. Being prepared leads to a more productive discussion.
Share progress with your board members to demonstrate you are taking action on their feedback. Also, anticipate there may be changes along the way and that is OK. To the extent it is relevant to your board, communicate the changes.
Evolve your personal board as you evolve. As your goals shift, and you progress in your journey, the composition of your personal board may need to adapt accordingly. Some members may naturally drift away as their expertise becomes less relevant to your current pursuits, while new members may emerge whose insights align more closely with your evolving aspirations. Stay flexible and proactive in reshaping your board to ensure it continues to meet your needs effectively. It is important to communicate how you are evolving and what that means for your board members.
Now what?
Your next steps to “Thrive with Your Personal Board” are:
Determine why you need a personal board
Assess whether you have the making of a board and understand where there are gaps, if any
Evaluate if you are holding yourself accountable to your board
Remember to evolve your board as you evolve
Access “Six Tips to Elevate Your Leadership & Retain Talent”, a free resource you can download from our home page and visit our Culture Corner page for access to all our newsletters. Until then, be well and keep shining!
We at Cultivate and Thrive empower women leaders to overcome obstacles by providing guidance on strategy and culture so that they gain clarity, work smarter, improve experience, and optimize their organization’s performance. Book a call so we can learn more about you and how we can elevate your organizational culture and performance.
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