Elevating strategy discussions in the boardroom

At the end of the day, management is responsible for developing the company’s strategy. Yet, even in 2019, when we first published Facilitating the board’s engagement in strategy,¹ the long-held view that the board’s role is limited to reviewing and concurring with the strategy was giving way to deeper engagement. This increased involvement by boards in strategy development accelerated during the COVID-19 crisis. And it continues to intensify as companies face an unprecedented combination of uncertainties, risks, and disruptions related to the economy, tariffs, trade, geopolitics, regulatory changes, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and more.

Our ongoing work and discussions with board leaders (defined here as lead directors and independent chairs)2 provide new insights in several areas, including envisioning the future, strategic forecasting and scenario planning, resilience, and linking strategy and risk discussions.

The nature of the board’s engagement in strategy—and the lead director or independent chair’s role and approach, from active leadership to lighter touch—will vary by company, yet three areas of board focus remain pivotal:

• Setting expectations
• Planning the setup and staging of strategy discussions
• Building consensus on strategic direction.

This paper also focuses on elements and practices that are key to quality boardroom discussions about strategy:

• Devoting more time to envisioning the future and scenario planning
• Making risk, crisis planning, and resilience part of the strategy discussion
• Insisting on diverse thinking and counterviews
• Board governance structure.

Taken together, the insights and practices highlighted in this paper can help the board enhance its engagement in the strategy process, including supporting critical calibrations and pivots as conditions change.