Insights from governance expert Laura Higgins FCG on effective communication with executives and board members
In today's fast-paced business environment, governance professionals face the challenging task of bridging communication between executive teams and boards. Navigating these high-stakes conversations requires skill, preparation and emotional intelligence. Laura Higgins FCG, founder and director of The CoSec Coach, brings over 20 years of experience in governance leadership roles within FTSE100 and FTSE250 organisations to shed light on this critical aspect of governance work.
As a respected governance professional and Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland, Laura has dedicated her career to enhancing the impact and value of the governance profession. Two years ago, she established The CoSec Coach to elevate the value of governance, recognising that governance functions and organisations could do much better in terms of raising the profile of this crucial aspect of business operations.
Understanding Executive and Board Member Perspectives
Effective communication with senior leaders begins with understanding their unique perspectives and priorities. Executives and board members operate under demanding schedules, balancing strategic oversight with tactical operations. They are inherently strategic thinkers, concerned primarily with organisational performance, growth and people management. Governance professionals must therefore align their communications closely with these executive interests to effectively capture attention and drive action.
When communicating with senior executives, it's essential to recognise their focus on strategy and operational areas of the business. "They're moving very quickly, they're very agile and obviously people-focused," Laura notes. "They want to be most efficient in how they spend their time."
Board members, meanwhile, typically maintain a broader oversight function, focusing heavily on governance, risk management and accountability. They value detailed, accurate and concise information that enables informed decision-making and risk mitigation. Recognising and balancing these distinct priorities forms a cornerstone of effective governance communication.
As Laura points out, "They are [both] part of the same team, but they each have very different priorities." The governance professional's role is to find a path through these different perspectives, which can only be accomplished through understanding and relationship-building.
Key Principles for Effective Communication
According to Laura, effectively communicating with senior leaders requires careful preparation and a strategic approach. One of the greatest challenges is capturing and maintaining their attention. Laura recommends structuring communications around three core elements:
- Content - What you want to talk about
- Intent - What you want the audience to do with the information
- Key Message - The headline or "so what" factor
Clarity and brevity are extremely important in communicating with leaders. If you can highlight and express your point effectively in just three sentences, you'll immediately capture attention—because your audience knows exactly what action to take.
Other key principles include:
- Avoid apologies. Starting with "I'm sorry, I know you're really busy" immediately causes attention to wander.
- Choose the appropriate channel. Consider whether email, phone or a face-to-face conversation is most suitable.
- Use plain language. Avoid jargon that might trip up your audience.
- Be mindful of formatting. Use white space, bullet points and clear headings to make written communications scan-friendly.
- Set clear response timelines. Be explicit about when you need a reply.
Preparing for Difficult Conversations
When it comes to navigating challenging conversations with senior leaders, preparation is paramount. Laura recommends always taking time to "pause and prep" before initiating any high-stakes discussion.
A proactive approach involves anticipating questions or pushback that might arise and developing succinct, factual responses. Governance professionals should have a clear grasp of the information at hand, including its broader context and the underlying implications.
Laura shares a personal example of being sent to get a document signed by a CEO without proper preparation. "I felt very much like I'd been set up to fail by my manager at the time," she recalls. The CEO asked basic but crucial questions: "What am I signing?" and "Why does it need to be done now?" This experience reinforced for her that "you need to be prepared for these conversations, irrespective of your role."
Laura advises responding to pushback with empathy, recommending that you openly acknowledge the other person's viewpoint to help them feel heard and understood. Paraphrasing their concerns back to them can confirm your understanding and foster consensus. She also stresses the importance of maintaining perspective—remembering that most situations are not a matter of life or death. Even if you make a mistake, it is unlikely to cost you your job. Approaching these moments with confidence and integrity, Laura suggests, will significantly strengthen your resilience.
Creating Effective Meeting Agendas
Developing effective meeting agendas constitutes another critical aspect of executive communication. Properly structured agendas significantly enhance the productivity and focus of senior-level discussions.
Laura suggests using forward planners to effectively organise and anticipate upcoming meetings. She points out that much of the preparation happens behind the scenes, ensuring topics are thoroughly considered before reaching senior leaders.
Her approach involves:
- Planning well in advance. Agreeing the agenda two weeks before the meeting is probably not going to be helpful for those people that need to be writing papers.
- Involving key stakeholders early. Having all your key stakeholders on the same call at the same time and having the agenda sent out to them a few days before is essential.
- Refining collaboratively. The draft agenda that you might have started out with is not the agenda you get to by the end of the process.
- Gathering feedback. Take a moment after meetings to reflect and gather feedback, suggesting even just five minutes to ask questions like, "Did we achieve the quality we aimed for?" or "Did we have the right information?"
Laura emphasises that meeting preparation is a process of continuous improvement that can drive further efficiencies going forward.
Recommendations for more effective communication
Based on Laura's insights, governance professionals looking to improve their communication with senior leaders should consider:
- Building relationships first. The more time that you are actually able to spend with them, the better it gets. Because frequency, when you say the flow of communication, they're actually delivering those tough messages actually becomes easier.
- Choosing the right communication channel. It can often take 10 minutes to craft a really good email, where in actual fact, you could have a 30-second conversation on the phone and arrive at a situation much quicker.
- Taking a diplomatic approach to mediation. When navigating tensions between the board and executives, Laura recommends taking on the role of the diplomat by understanding both sides of the fence and really what they're both trying or striving to achieve and why that is not happening.
- Meeting people where they are - When dealing with different comfort levels around technology or other preferences, Laura advises "meeting them where they are, wherever they are on their journey" rather than trying to force change.
Conclusion
Effective communication with senior leaders doesn't happen by accident; it requires intentionality, preparation and practice. As Laura notes, "Everyone should feel that they can communicate key messages to these groups of people, either senior executives or boards. They are just people at the end of the day. So being clear with what you want at the outset is absolutely critical."
By understanding the different perspectives of executives and board members, mastering the principles of effective communication, preparing thoroughly for difficult conversations and taking a strategic approach to meeting preparation, governance professionals can significantly enhance their impact and effectiveness.
This article was based on a webinar hosted by iBabs featuring Laura Higgins FCG, founder and director of The CoSec Coach, a consultancy focused on transforming governance functions through coaching and training. Laura is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland with over 20 years of experience in governance leadership roles for FTSE100 and FTSE250 organisations.
