Skip to content

11 July, 2025

  • Saved Articles
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Log Out

Board Agenda

  • Governance
  • Strategy
  • Risk
  • Ethics
  • News
  • Insight
    • Categories

      • View all
      • Governance
      • Strategy
      • Risk
      • Ethics
      • Board Expertise
      • finance
      • Technology
    • EU sustainability

      Omnibus package must not undermine EU sustainability

      Now is the time for Europe to speed up green transition, rather than slow it...

    • high pay

      Pay gap transparency needs to be better

      It’s not unknown for a CEO to earn 500 times as much the median employee,...

    • executive pay

      Executive pay trends in 2025

      Opposition to remuneration reports has grown sharply, according to Georgeson’s analysis of voting outcomes in...

  • Comment
      • View all
    • EU sustainability

      Omnibus package must not undermine EU sustainability

      Now is the time for Europe to speed up green transition, rather than slow it...

    • high pay Pay gap transparency needs to be better

      It’s not unknown for a CEO to earn 500 times as much the median employee,...

    • future-proof governance levers How to future-proof your business

      For boards to bolster resilience and create value in a polycrisis, a combination of hard...

  • Interviews
      • View All Interviews
      • Podcasts
      • Webinars
    • UK Corporate Governance Code Board meetings ‘are not up to scratch’

      Nearly three-quarters of board members believe the board’s performance in meetings needs improvement, an expert...

    • financial sanctions Tariffs chaos drives boardroom focus on resilience

      Business leaders will prioritise the resilience of their organisations in the face of economic upheaval...

    • supply chain oversight Act now on supply chain oversight, boards warned

      Board directors need to critically engage with the business’s supply chain activity, a panel of...

  • Board Careers
  • Resource Centre
      • White Paper Downloads
      • Book Reviews
      • Board Advisory & Corporate Services
    • C-suite barometer: outlook 2025 – UK insights

      Forvis Mazars draws UK insights from its global study and looks at UK executives’ strategic...

    • Talent Management 2025 Mind Gym

      Talent Management in 2025

      From rethinking leadership to wrestling with AI, MindGym's report reveals the trends shaping talent strategies...

    • Korn Ferry CHRO 2025 (Copy)

      On The Highwire: Being a CHRO in 2025

      Korn Ferry surveyed 750 senior HR leaders (including 450 CHROs) to understand their key priorities...

  • Events
  • Search by topic
    • Governance
    • Strategy
    • Risk
    • Ethics
    • Regulation
    • ESG
    • Investor Relations
    • Careers
    • Board Expertise
    • finance
    • Technology

Boards must harness tension to succeed in a time of disruption

by Andrew Kakabadse

Boards need to learn to look inward and harness “positive tension” to avoid becoming dysfunctional during a crisis.

board tension

Image: Sasin Paraksa/Shutterstock

Research from international head hunting firm, Odgers Berndtson, reveals that only 15% of executives believe their leadership will succeed during times of disruption. This is particularly relevant in the current environment, where 88% of senior managers expect even wider and more severe disruption over the coming five years.

Most leaders have every right to be concerned about a growing focus that concentrates unduly on the CEO. It is leadership itself that should be the central focus, not the leader, and our ongoing research has identified that boards which collectively fail to understand and disregard an overt focus on the CEO, instead of harnessing “positive tension”, are the most likely to find themselves in the midst of a crisis.

The make-up of boards has much to do with this. They are largely composed of experienced and accomplished individuals possessing strong personalities and perspectives on how the organisation should be governed.

The issue of how boards maintain their functionality in a crisis is addressed by focusing on two crucial areas: firstly, the need to establish and foster positive tension between individuals, and secondly by defusing destructive conflict before it emerges.

Despite this, high-profile cases of board clashes and meltdown remain all too common.

Latent board conflict simmers over clashes of opinion on organisational purpose, competitive advantage and strategic direction. Many of these subjects are unvoiced because of a fear of making circumstances worse or even encouraging retaliation.

Such submerged tensions slowly erode relationships, upset alignments and can cause inertia and paralysis. So is your board dysfunctional? To find out, it is important to explore how well disagreements are handled, and whether board tensions are fully surfaced and discussed.

 


What is positive tension?
While tension is seen as a positive and necessary force for any effective board, conflict is alternatively disruptive and detrimental. As one of our board interviewees explained: ‘Conflict is undesirable. Conflict means outright hostility, but tension is good.’

Positive tension is both a result and a mindset. Damaging differences between leaders can be turned into positive outcomes through the implementation of six critical disciplines (see below).


Resolving tension

The chair is ideally positioned to resolve much of the tension in a boardroom. They have the mandate to intervene and harmonise board relationships, particularly if the company secretary and senior board members are willing and able to act in unison.

Consider the following practices to ensure board tension is healthy:

  1. Acknowledge and record disagreements Recognising other board members’ concerns is important. This does not necessarily mean agreeing with them, but recognising differences encourages others to voice their views. Listening to and respecting different opinions is important in handling tension and conflict productively. This can include recording a point in meetings to avoid it being repeatedly raised, a factor which can trigger disengagement or drive an escalation of tension.
  2. Discuss issues on a one-to-one basis These are often moments of truth and reconciliation where board members can unload their concerns and opposing views on a one-to-one basis. This may require a pause in the board meeting for members to discuss problematic issues separately before reconvening. The focus should be on achieving clarity by “peeling the onion”.
  3. Remind members of their higher purpose It is not uncommon for things to get personal as board members adopt rigid and defensive positions. Reminding individuals of their higher purpose and the values at stake can help depersonalise tension and re-focus discussion on finding solutions that are aligned with the organisation’s purpose. Of course this approach works most effectively when this purpose is shared from the outset.
  4. Consider seating arrangements Small things matter and seating board members who may have opposing views next to, rather than opposite, each other can prove to be a useful tactic. Some chairs and company secretaries face each other so they can read the other’s body language and act accordingly.
  5. Develop relationships outside of the boardroom Trustees should have opportunities to get to know each other outside the boardroom and develop their understanding of each other’s style, background and concerns. This also allows for what might be just vague impressions to coalesce into collective concerns between trustees, offering the chance to develop better approaches to finding a solution.
  6. Raise issues beyond the boardroom Maintaining the principle of “no surprises” in the boardroom is important. If a trustee wants to raise a specific concern they should inform their chair in advance. Building a board that is comfortable with and can manage tension is certainly to the benefit of the organisations. However, this takes time to develop and requires a consistent and purposeful chair to create and establish a healthy culture.

Boards are renowned for having the potential to become hotspots of conflict and tension, while failures of effective leadership and management can result in dire consequences for all stakeholders. Make sure you identify and manage board tension in order to maintain functionality when a crisis hits.

Andrew Kakabadse is professor of governance and leadership at Henley Business School.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

Related Posts

  • Nick Bate named as chair of Redcentric board
    November 23, 2021
    Data on a screen

    Bate, a chartered management accountant with a background in corporate M&A transactions, takes over from Ian Johnson.

  • KPMG UK extends Bina Mehta’s term as chair
    December 1, 2021
    KPMG logo on website

    Mehta was initially elected to act as temporary chair for a 12-month period, but will now remain in post until 2024.

  • Paul Manduca takes the wheel as chair of Eurowag
    September 16, 2021
    Paul Manduca, Eurowag

    The former chair of Prudential and Aon UK has joined the board of the commercial road transport services provider.

  • Stephen Hester appointed as next chair of easyJet
    August 27, 2021
    EasyJet logo on plane

    Hester will join the airline's board next month and take over from current chair John Barton on 1 December.

Search


Follow Us

Register Free

Stay in the know! Register to access the latest governance news; plus receive updates about our events and podcasts – Sign up here

 

Most Popular

Featured Resources

wef global risks 2025

The Global Risks Report 2025

The 20th edition of the Global Risks Report reveals an increasingly fractured global...
Supply chain management cover

Strategic Oversight in Supply Chain Management: A Guide for Corporate Boards 2025

Supply chains have become complex, interdependent and opaque and—according to research...
OB-Cyber-Security

Cyber Security: What Boards Need to Know

Maintaining firewalls, protecting servers and filtering malicious emails rarely make...

The IA’S Principles Of Remuneration 2024 2025

This guidance from the Investment Association is aimed at assisting remuneration...
Diligent 2024 leadership tech cover

Leadership, decision-making & the role of technology: Business survey 2024

This research report by Board Agenda and Diligent sheds light on how board directors...

Director Reference Guide: Navigating Conflict in the Boardroom

The 'Director Reference Guide' on navigating conflict in the boardroom provides practical...
Nasdaq 2024 governance report cover

Nasdaq 2024 Global Governance Pulse

This Nasdaq survey gathered data from more than 870 board members, executives, and...

Becoming a non-executive director (4th edition)

Board composition is the subject of much debate, while the role of the non-executive...
art & science brainloop new cover

The Art & Science of Creating an Effective Board

Boards are coming under more scrutiny and pressure than ever before from regulators,...
SAA First time NED guide

First Time Guide for Non-Executive Directors

The role of the non-executive director has never been more vital: to advise, support,...

Register Free

Stay in the know! Register to access the latest governance news; plus receive updates about our events and podcasts. Register


  • Editors & Contributors
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Board Advisory & Corporate Services
  • Media Marketing Solutions
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Board Director Network
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
|

Copyright © 2025 Questor Media Group Ltd.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap