Boards have been forced to dilute their time on company strategy in order to juggle an increasing compliance workload. Further, a ‘constant change syndrome’ now faces boards with globalisation, digitisation, regulation and demographic change increasing the rapidity of disruption.
However, the board must continue to drive management to think strategically in order to survive. With the workforce being not only the largest cost for most organisations, and arguably the biggest asset, the need for boards to intricately understand and proactively plan for the future is critical. Accounting for and optimising the workforce, a large proportion of most organisations’ resources, is an imperative on which boards must require proactivity from the Leadership team.