Games, rules, women (on boards)

Rules for the game

Now comes the hard part...setting the rules for the game.

Objects of the game

The object of the game is to become a director before the other players. The player succeeds by achieving:

• notoriety
• authority
• power. 

These are achieved withies described in various stages as described in various posts:

• pre career
• early career
• mid career
• senior. 

This may be doe in various careers:

• law
• science
• financial services
• mining
• agriculture, fishing, forestry
• IT
• media
• politics
• pubic service

Each player chooses a career path, which I often fraught with barriers and challenges as well as offering unique opportunities. The success formula is left to the discretion of each player. So, there is an element of strategy and an understanding of risk. 

Equipment

The equipment for the game consists of a folding board, a pack of opportunity cards, a pack of barrier cards, 6 playing pieces, 2 dice, and a box of Kleenex (just joking). 

Paths

On the playing board there are paths to success based o one's education, the opportunities presented by a career, whether they get a mentor or later a sponsor. As in life, players will be diverted ono side loops sometimes as a consequence of their own poor strategic choices and sometimes for reasons out of their control. Some careers have more opportunities for earning notoriety, authority and power than others. 

Next: success formula. 

Older and better

Governance, Women and Leadership

The estimated time it ought to take to reach any kind of a senior level both with a national non profit and within a sector should be between 10 and 15 years, The game will give points to achieve this next step in 10 years although it will likely take 15 years, given the barriers thrown up as a woman tries to advance her goal to be a corporate director.

1. What opportunities have been realized over the length of the game, so far. Have mentors helped? Did sponsors come through? Did the player find either? Without one or the other, the player will stay stuck in a mid level loop. With both, the player will advance quickly through the 1st 2 levels.  
2. At this level within the sector (not quite C-suite ) the player will have developed a profile as a senior volunteer realized by being elevated to the position of chair of a national non profit. At the same time , she will be at least a senior VP within her sector. If she has advanced within the public service, she will be an ADM or a DM off either a Federal Ministry or within a large province (Quebec, Ontario, BC, Alta.) She may well consider herself mired in a  mid level position if she has a similar position in open of Canada's smaller provinces. 
3. She will have moved on from the ICSA Acc Dir program to being a mentor in that program. She will also have achieved the C.Dir.  designation through the Conference Board of Canada. If she does not get this designation, she may be able to get a position on a junior company within the TSX . Enough to be successful in this game but not successful enough to win the game. 
4. Professional achievement is important and she should be designated a Fellow, if she has a professional designation. If not, she may be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. If she has pursued a career in the media, she will have won several awards (Genie etc).
5. She will also be asked to advise a Senate Standing Committee on some topic. 
6. She will be asked at the early part of this stage to be on an evergreen list from one or another of the major executive search firms. 

So, we have moved the 5 levels for the game. The next step is to lay out the rules, then describe each step at each stage, then describe loops within each stage. This is the hard part!

Mid level: Women on Board

Mid-level: Women on Board

We continue with the game design for the Board Game: Women on Board.

What does "mid career " look like for those women who aspire to a corporate directorship? 

1. Leadership is the by-word at this level, especially as a volunteer on a non profit board. Remember, it is important to secure a board position either at a local or, preferably at a regional level. At this stage, the player should be positioned to have a position on the Executive Committee or at the least, on the Audit Committee. Year 1 at this level should position the player to be vice chair in year 2 and Chairman in years 4&5. 
2. As an entry level candidate, it is important to get known in one's professional association. Doing committee work, having a profile in educational events, taking part in the design of policy papers all enhance profile. With those successes in hand, the player is now ready to do a number of things with one's professional association. These include: chairing a key committee (policy would be nice); executive (would be better). These two leadership positions enhances the player's profile with the national association. Accomplish these in years 1,2&3 and then move onto the national scene for years 4&5.
3. Maintaining contact with the player's mentor is important. At this point, the player is positioned to recruit a sponsor the better to move her into sector activities. 
4. Now begins the broader approach of networking at national association events and perhaps connecting with the international scene. One's sponsor helps with this. The acquaintance established with key director search consultants will prove helpful at this level. 
5. To further enhance one's profile, the player actively solicits opportunities to represent the non profit at a national level, gives presentations on the national stage, writes articles for national newspapers, takes part in association webcasts. 
6. This is the time to begin to nurture political connections initially through representations at Senate select committees on behalf of the national branch of the non profit and with the national professional association. 

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the next phase... being the senior level. 

Entry level-women on boards

Entry level: Women on Boards

My Apologies

For those of you who have been following this blog, please accept my apologies for going dark for the last 2 weeks. A combination of problems struck including ice and snow...and problems getting another blog up and going. It was to have focused on pension governance. I failed for some reason to engage the platform properly. So, I will continue using this blog until I get the other one fixed. 

NBPSPP and Pension Governance

Some of you may have been reading about my views about the NBPSPP, its governance and their performance. After several weeks about writing about it, and having done my research, I have now reached out to them for an explanation about certain elements of their governance approach.

Three (3) days ago, I asked 4 questions:

1. How does the board define director/ trustee independence?
2. How does the board evaluate its performance? 
3. How does the board recruit new members?
4. How many independent trustees are? 

I expect that there will be an answer in a couple of days (this being Sunday in this part of the world). 

Saint John, smart cities and open data portals

I had also asked our city councillor about whether Saint John had considered developing itself as a smart city. IN previous blogs, I had reviewed both what a smart city was and how Saint John's open data portal might help inform that effort. My councillor had no idea how to respond to the question about smart cities and rather though that it had to do with a continuous improvement program. (well...it does, in a way...just not his). He let me know that the open data portal was being looked after by the IT department of the city.  Bad idea. Very bad idea. I got back to him with one definition of a smart city and a suggestion that many more people than the IT department needed to be involved in the development of an open data portal. 
I can see another blog developing here, linked to the show
#whatmattersmost . 

Anyway, lets get on with the main show. 

Entry level: women on boards

An entry level position places the player in the first 3-5 years of a career, the sights of which are focused on getting a place onto a corporate board. The goal of this stage of the game is to acquire: authority, skills, and a network. 

• The first step is to get a position on a volunteer board in the first year of a career, if she hasn't done so already.
• begin to attend the relevant regional and provincial conferences 
• in the second year on that board, start taking courses through an operation like Charity Village through its webinar series. 
• begin to attend the national conferences. 
• in the third year, enroll in the ICSA Acc. Dir course (3 days) plus exams in either Toronto or Vancouver. 
• attend ICSA annual conference
• find  mentor within the governance structures of either the volunteer agency association (at a national level) or the corporate secretarial association. 
• through your mentor, meet board search/recruitment consultants. Meet with them to determine what qualifications corporations may be seeking. The search consultants should be nationally recognized. 
• in year 4 begin to publish articles in Trustee magazine and in a professional governance journal like Governance (the ICSA journal) or Corporate Secretary,  (the US journal). Ask to make a presentation about governance at these conferences (ICSA, volunteer agency)
• in year 5, continue with the above strategies and start to look for a more responsible career position, one which will enhance your profile with the boards of the companies in your chosen industry. 
• At year 5, the player will also have wanted to upgrade her professional education. If, for example, she starts the game with an undergrad degree, she should have entered this phase with a post grad degree. In this phase of the game, she should have upgraded her qualifications by completing a certificate in risk management (distance ed'n through the U of T as an example). Taking a certificate through the National Quality Institute will give her extra points. Both will jump her ahead in the game. 

The next phase/stage of the game is mid career, which I will cover tomorrow.