boardroom
literally have to prepare your minutes, set out your plan and actually come back the following four to six weeks with something deliverable. It focuses you in terms of doing the right thing. “Our meetings would previously have been quite
Anne Millar Laura Magahy
who we interviewed.” Magahy’s initial reaction when she received a call from
the Boardroom Centre, asking if she’d be interested in putting her name forward, was that the company was very interesting and that it had a number of parallels to her own business and experience. “Very often then it’s the fit,” says Magahy. “When you
meet the people, you have to see if you feel, first of all, comfortable with them and the business and, second of all, comfortable that you can bring something to it and that you can work with the people.” Adds Millar: “There was a very good selection of can-
didates and it was quite difficult to ultimately make the final decision about the best fit because each of the potential non-executive directors had something differ- ent that was related to the business. “It was not just about the experience of the individual
but also the dynamics of working together and obviously hoping that that person would bring something extra that we didn’t have.” According to Magahy, the selection process was com-
pleted very quickly because the Millars were decisive. “A lot of people will procrastinate, but they really
wanted someone,” she says. “We had done all the discussions between ourselves
beforehand,” agrees Millar. “We knew that it was some- thing we wanted to go for and, as a company, when we decide to go for something, the decision is measured but made quickly. A lot of time can be wasted in business. And the nice thing about being a smaller business with access to somebody like Laura is you’re small enough to get decisions made quickly.”
New formality The company has held just three board meetings since Magahy’s appointment, but there has already been a noticeable difference. “What Laura brought in the beginning is that formal
structure where we had to meet in a boardroom envi- ronment and discuss the business and where the busi- ness was going, the actual strategy or where we were trying to move towards,” says Millar. “It brought that formality that we needed, taking it
from a conversation that two people have in the office into a formal boardroom environment where you
36 Irish Director Spring 2011
informal,” she continues. “We’re both working direc- tors and both busy working directors. This has forced us to take a bit of time out of the business and discuss where it’s going and what it’s about. Also, it’s great when somebody else is looking in at your business as they see things that you don’t see because you’re in it every day.”
Eye-opener “That fresh perspective on a business does open your own eyes to what maybe has been missing or needs to be addressed. Hopefully, over time, we’ll be able to imple- ment the different things that have been highlighted or brought to our attention,” adds Millar. The transition to working together has largely been
a smooth process, according to both Magahy and Millar. “But again it comes down to choosing the person who
understands your business,” says Millar. “Laura would obviously have a huge amount of experience in property and construction and understands that it’s not an exact science; that you’ve got to be flexible. It comes down to the type of person you choose for your company and, luckily enough, I think we were right.” The fact that she has two NEDs in her own company
has helped the process from her perspective, says Magahy. “When we had our initial conversation I knew exactly what Anne meant. When you’re an owner- manager, you’re following your own instincts and strat- egy, which can be right, but when you bring in non- executives they bring in that formality. “It’s hard to do strategy and the day job at the same
time.Making time to sit down, take time out and actu- ally asking: ‘Where are we going and what are we doing?’, that can be hard when you’re just working with the same person every day. So I think having non- executive directors does bring that discipline and structure and external view. “It’s always useful for companies to have external
views and external eyes, because you can get very insu- lar in your thinking,” says Magahy. “If you’re with a business partner all the time, you
basically just start confirming to each other that you’re both right. Essentially you’re having a conver- sation with yourself. “So it is definitely worth having an external view,
whether they are officially on the board or there’s an advisory committee. Inmy own company I have two non- execs on the board and then I have an advisory commit- tee as well on specific issues. Getting that external input into a company is hugely valuable. “I think that until you’ve tried it you don’t necessarily know what the benefits are,” she affirms.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84