Experience of working with a board as a first-time CEO | Daphne Mavroudi-Chocholi, Managing Director RNIB Enterprises

The Better Boards Podcast Series

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Boards are complex structures, and it can be overwhelming for a first-time CEO to navigate them successfully. In this episode, we dive into the experiences of a first-time CEO, discussing the challenges she encountered and the strategies she used to handle the intricacies of board dynamics.

In this episode, Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Founder and Managing Partner of Better Boards, speaks with Daphne Mavroudi-Chocholi about her experience working on a board for the first time. Daphne, the Managing Director of RNIB Enterprises, brings a wealth of experience to the table but is, for the first time, a CEO.

“What has surprised me the most, coming from the start-up world, is the governance”
Daphne’s previous experience was in the start-up world. There is an established background in that world, and investors invest in the person and the idea. Now, she is the Managing Director operating within a highly regulated environment. She finds it constantly necessary to consider the right balance between governance, agility, nimbleness, and the ability to make decisions.

“There are two places I really see value coming through. One is honesty, and the other is the idea of working with a board rather than sitting on a board”
Daphne feels very lucky in her board relationships. She sees two areas where the board provides and creates particular value. First, life as a CEO can be a lonely existence. With your board, on the other hand, there’s the opportunity for honest, no-holds-barred conversations, and that space for transparency creates immense value. Secondly, by viewing the board as a partnership relationship, you gain the benefit of a critical friend.

“The most challenging part of working with a board is striking that balance between managing the board, engaging with board members, ensuring alignment, and then actually doing the day-to-day job”
To Daphne, one can be pulled into board work and move away from the business. Or, one can go so deeply into the business that one forgets to update the board.

“What is the shining city on the hill we’re all marching toward?”
Along with an ally in the Chair, Daphne finds storytelling extremely helpful. Storytelling helps create narrative fluency in the common culture and goals that drive the business. It can bring everyone together on the same page, build clarity on why things are being done, and drive everyone forward in the same direction.

“In God we trust; all others bring data”
A second thing immensely helpful to Daphne is an insistence on data. It builds credibility and helps move conversations from opinions and emotions to facts.

“You might as well be honest and transparent at the beginning.”
The final element for Daphne is transparency. She mentions it often because it matters on multiple levels. It builds trust. It helps us understand each other and the business. Above all, transparency helps extract maximum value from the board because when the members understand the story, data, and balance, they can understand how to bring their full range of skills and abilities forward, exponentially magnifying their impact.

The three top takeaways for effective boards from our conversation are:
1. It is imperative to create narrative fluency with your board. Clearly describe the proverbial “Shining City on a Hill” as the whole organisation and the Board marching toward it.
2. Build diversity around the Board table, especially diversity of thought and working style, to challenge the status quo in a good way.
3. Truth will come out – it is best to be honest and transparent.