Boards

Achieve balanced strategic impact

Successful boards go beyond diligence and results. In a VUCA world, they challenge thinking, shape strategy, and also give the management team space to lead their way.

I partner with boards to enhance dynamics, sharpen strategic focus, and foster productive relationships with shareholders, executive teams, and owner-founders.

Strategy

Organisational Health & Culture

Management Team Selection & Dev

Board: Management Relationship

Board:Founder Relationship

Board: Assessments & Development

Kevin has been an invaluable partner and counsel for the businesses and boards I work with, helping to drive effective behaviours, embed true accountability, cut through the noise and focus on what really matters for performance. He is a great listener with a knack for asking the right questions, surfacing real issues, and helping boards work better with management without overstepping. Kevin’s diverse experience and international perspective helps him provide practical, sharp, and insightful advice and insights; these enable organisations and executives to challenge thinking, navigate tough conversations, and ultimately become more effective in driving long-term success.

Tom Hickey

Managing Director, Kenmare Reslurces PLC, Adviser and non-executive director

Why work with me?

  • Trusted Advisor Across Diverse Sectors: I’ve worked with boards and leadership teams in a wide range of sectors to navigate growth, change, and complexity.
  • Balanced Perspective: My experience as an employee, coach to management teams and a consultant to boards means I understand the pressures on leadership teams and boards alike. I bridge strategy with practical execution. I’m pragmatic rather than idealistic.
  • Direct, Insightful Approach: I don’t offer generic advice. I listen, help name reality and surface worthwhile challenges.

Develop a competitive strategy that will set direction, align resources, drive engagement, and produce intended outcomes.

  • Develop strategy: Bring shareholder expectations, market opportunities and company resources together into a clear vision for the organisation.
  • Align priorities: Ensure that Board expectations and Management thinking are sufficiently synched.
  • Expect executive excellence: Encourage deeper thinking and better decision-making.
  • Achieve accountability: Develop positive, empowering mechanisms to understand and adapt.
  • Assess the organisation’s life stage: Evaluate the developmental cycle and take appropriate action for high performance.
  • Maintain company health: Ensure that strategic decisions balance growth with sustainable operations and culture.
  • Support business resilience: Balance short-term performance, adaptivity and longer-term sustainability.
  • Maintain psychological safety: Harness engagement with an environment where people can bring their best and grow.

Resource and support your management team and foster a positive, effective relationship.

  • Evaluate exec hires: Ensure leadership fit with psychometric assessments and focussed interviews.
  • Support executive development: Identify and address leadership gaps critical to business success.
  • Assess leadership team health on key competencies: trust, decision-making, productive conflict, and managing change and uncertainty.

Align with your executive team to set and executing strategy and navigate complexity.

  • Clarify roles & boundaries: Define how the board adds value without stepping into operations.
  • Resolve tension: Deal with conflict positively and focus on what matters most to the business.
  • Strengthen Board-Management collaboration: Foster trust and open communication between the board and executive teams.

Maintain a creative relationship through the transition from entrepreneurial leadership to professional management.

  • Define boundaries: Clarify how the board challenges and supports without stifling innovation.
  • Build trust and partnership: Strengthen relationships that drive sustainable growth.
  • Balance vision with structure: Support the founder’s strategic vision while introducing the systems and processes needed for scale.

Be well-balanced, strategically aligned, and equipped to support long-term growth.

  • Evaluate board composition and competency: Identify skills, experience, and perspectives needed for strategic impact.
  • Highlight strengths and gaps: Align the board’s capabilities with the organisation’s strategic goals.
  • Focus on strategic effectiveness: Go beyond governance to assess how the board actively contributes to business success without disempowering management.
  • Develop Board dynamics: Deal with conflicting interests and viewpoints to collaborate in teh best interests of the business.