In an ideal world, where there is an ample supply of ready, willing and able persons on a board, the advice is fairly straight forward. In the 1st instance, the Chairman needs to have the capability, motivation and time to lead the board and be prepared to invest in gaining a deep understanding of the business and the role of the Chairman itself. This could take up to 12 months or more, depending on the complexity of the organisation and its business. Then the Chairman should offer stability and consistency in the leadership role, especially if the external environment is turbulent and this translates to a period of between 3 -5 years. In summation, in an ideal world, the role of the Chairman should be for a period of somewhere between 5 – 8 years. Such a time frame provides consistency, minimises churn and the cost of such situations and provides for orderly renewal, all of which is both good governance and good for the organisation.
Rotation of the Chairman’s role should be board policy, not left to individuals to decide;The role should be formally discussed each year, rather than just be a rubber stamp process;Recruitment of board members should be made with a succession plan in mind;Long periods of Chairmanship tenure is generally not good for the organisation – complacency and group think can set in and other board members can abdicate their responsibilities due to the situation;andRenewal at all levels of the organisation, at appropriate times, is fundamental to long term success – no one is sole custodian of any position.
Both PE and LO fall into the same category. Awaiting next AGM meeting request to be sent and will ask formally for these issues to be addressed unless there is a group of people with 5% call for a 249D meeting.
In the last action group formed in 2022 that scottish investor organised I sent the following text to the group before the letter got submitted which is still valid today. The response that the group got back was weak. We need to find someone with financial skills and ability to raise capital to come in and support us and remove the entire group for a refresh.... Todays announcement was the bare minimum.
Finally, I'll put out the question shouldn't the Chairman also be held responsible for the position the company finds itself in? He's been in this position since 2003 and preside over all of these issues we are raising and has to have some accountability for this position ARE finds itself in.
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