Is a Board of Directors a Team?

Abstract

AbstractResearch to date on boards of directors focuses on board dynamics and on how board members work together. This paper considers boards of directors from a team perspective and whether a board of directors is a team, drawing on insights from team coaching. The paper first highlights the unique features of boards of directors. The paper applies the team diagnostic survey criteria to boards of directors as a construct to assess whether boards of directors are teams. The paper considers psychological safety, which is critical to team effectiveness, and questions whether boards operating as teams exacerbate boards’ propensity for groupthink. Viewing boards of directors from a team perspective introduces a useful human lens to understand board dynamics better and learn how boards can become more effective.