In any team activity, it is not only the skills of the individual players, but also the quality and skill of their interactions, their capability to function and perform as a unit that determines the outcome – success, failure or somewhere in between.
Players in sports teams are chosen by the selector(s) not only on the basis of their individual skills, but also their interaction (with other members of their team) skills. In business, shareholders select their directors on the basis of their technical skill, experience, reputation and sometimes people management skills – their capability to get performance out of a team. In the Third Sector, the team is chosen by the stakeholders on the basis of a multitude of criteria that may include skill and experience, even geographic location but more often than not it is based upon the preparedness of the person to serve on the board.
The chair of the board has the unenviable task of molding and cajoling his or her directors, trustees, councillors, etc, into a team capable of effective governance – what they are elected to do. With their many agendas and allegiances, inside and outside of the board room, chairs often feel that it would be easier to herd cats than the bunch of diverse individuals the stakeholders have given them. It is no less of a problem for the Chief Executive of the organization and his management team, they too have to manage this herd of cats, the dynamics of which change every time there is a change in the composition of the board.