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GERVAISE
SLOWEY on change and how to thrive on it
Most organisations that I work with are commonly hav- ing to deal with dramatic change in their external envi- ronment. Don’t get me wrong – there has always been change. It’s an absolute certainty in business.What’s dif- ferent now is that the pace of change has become absolutely frenetic, and the forces driving change have become much more visible than before. Change is a fact of life and its impact can be very posi-
tive. While some organisations are better equipped to manage change than others, many are caught like rabbits in the headlights. Irish businesses have learned (mostly the hard way)
that complacency is the enemy of growth. The moment you get that comfortable and secure ‘we’ve arrived’ feeling is the moment it all begins to go south. The first step for organisations to manage external
change effectively is to fully expect it. If we know it’s going to happen, we can be ready for it. We need to recognise the signs. But to do this, we need
to be watching for the signs all the time. They don’t come up and hit you over the head (or if they do, it’s already too late). Searching for the signsmeans asking different ques- tions and looking in different places. And not being afraid of what we find! Most of us in our daily business anticipate a lot of
change in the short term, but too little in the long term. That is simply observing and responding tactically to an immediate external change, and we do this instinctively (or we should!).What I believe we do too little of is watch- ing – no searching – for the strategic change, that strate- gic shift. Then it’s a question of adapting quickly. Thismeans let-
ting go of the old way as fast as you can, and embracing the new way. Speed is critical. Think big – act small: the bigger the company the hard-
er adapting can be. A constant “change and adapt”mind- set needs to be embedded in the organisation fromthe top down, becoming part of the culture of the company. Big companies need to operate like small ones – nurturing the spirit and mindset of a small, nimble organisation. Finally, the better an organisation can adapt, the more
it can not justmanage, but also thrive on change. And this ‘thriving on change’ mindset starts in the boardroom.
Gervaise Slowey is managing director of Ogilvy & Mather and a mem- ber of the board of the Ogilvy Ireland Group. She is also a director of IAPI, and a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland.
FERGUS
MCARDLE on effecting North South co-operation in the boardroom
There are a number of differences in the styles of board- room systems between North and South with regard to State-controlled bodies. For example, in the Republic of Ireland, the CEO/chairman are, in essence, the account- able persons in plc companies under State control to the Public Accounts Committee. In Northern Ireland, mean- while, the secretary-general of the department is the accountable person. Because of these differences, I think there would be significant benefits to be had from more co-operation between the state companies in the Republic and the state-administrated entities for the Northern Assembly. This could be done by inviting members from both bodies to attend board meetings on a confidential basis to have a cross-pollination of ideas. The Northern Ireland Assembly is quite young, while
the Irish administration has been operating for almost 90 odd years. Over those years, we in the Republic have grown to accept what the criteria are and where the demarcation lines are for the various bodies for the departments and for the boards themselves. In the Northern Assembly they’re currently in a learning curve and perhaps we could help demonstrate how we have defined these demarcation lines. But there’s plenty that boards in the South could learn
too. On Northern boards, they’re very into corporate gov- ernance and audit committees. In the audit committee for Waterways Ireland, for example, the controller and audi- tor general have a representative at every meeting as an observer. In any of the Republic of Ireland meetings, the audit committee will report to the board and it in turn will, if necessary, report back to its shareholder through the department. So there’s a fundamental difference. There are already chairs committees for all of the state
bodies in theRepublic and for those in theNorth.Working with these committees, plans are in place to invite some of the northern chairs and other personnel to board meet- ings in the Republic and vice-versa over the next year or two. That will help to develop a better understanding between North and South. This kind of collaboration could also be extended to other non-government boards.
Fergus McArdle is chairman of Bord na Móna and chairs the audit com- mittee of Waterways Ireland, a North South body under the Good Friday Agreement. He is also chairman of five other small companies. He is currently undertaking the IoD Chartered Director programme.
Winter 2010 Irish Director 23
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