It has become a truism that companies are facing unprecedented uncertainty. The key question for boards is how best to respond.

This is a major focus of Fidelio’s work in building and assessing boards internationally. One clear response that we are seeing across leading boardrooms is a much more critical focus on the board skill matrix.

Of course, the skill matrix has been with us for some time, but boards have traditionally used this tool unevenly.

Some included quite superficial analysis in the annual report, while other nomination committees applied the skills matrix rigorously to identify immediate and long-term gaps.

In May 2024, we flagged in a webinar on ‘The Board Skill Matrix and Transformation’ that high-performing boards were using the skills matrix in a much more deliberate way to ensure board composition aligned to strategy and change.

Two years later, the strategic adoption of the skill matrix is much more pronounced and has become a hallmark of effective succession planning. This has been evident in our search practice. Before embarking on the mapping process, investing time to understand the skill matrix and how an incoming non-executive director will contribute and add value is clear best practice.

Equally, board performance reviews have always considered composition but, in the past two years, there has been a more pronounced focus on the skill matrix and stronger linkage to the work of the nomination committee.

Indeed, boards of global companies are commissioning detailed benchmarking to understand how relevant peers are shaping board composition for future competitive advantage.

Emerging patterns

While each board and company is different, common themes emerge from skill matrix work.

An overarching theme for all boards is how to combine long-term direction with the agility needed to navigate short-term challenge.

To answer this question, the skill matrix has to include an ‘attribute’ dimension. Specifically, chairs require board members who have the intellectual agility, grasp of culture and values, and ability to remain focused and calm under stress that will be critical to success. These are attributes that effective chairs have always sought intuitively and are now applying to the skill matrix more rigorously in the search for non-executive directors.

A second truism is that all organisations are facing transformation in a time of such profound geopolitical, environmental and technological change. As such, transformation experience has become much prized on the board skill matrix.

We see chairs seeking new board members who have successfully led major transformation or changes programmes and have a clear grasp of the levers critical to success, including the vital importance of people and bringing the organisation with you.

Closely connected with transformation is technology. There has long been a debate that technology professionals may not have the leadership experience and breadth to serve effectively on the board. In the meantime, however, technology is so rapidly disrupting business models that boards without technology insight are at a severe competitive disadvantage.

Indeed, an important trend among leading boards is a blended approach to technology within the skill matrix: first, where a specific technology is core to the business model, there need to be non-executive directors with meaningful understanding; and second, with each new board appointment, the overall technology capability of the board needs to increase.

Moreover, for chair appointments in global organisations, technology experience is becoming a core requirement, in the way that finance has traditionally been a key criterion.

As an aside, the depth—and diversity—of technology talent and expertise is frequently underestimated. We were pleased to challenge this assumption in a 2025 webinar on technology and the talent pool co-hosted with female technology leaders from Silicon Valley.

Prior experience of activists has also become a valuable board attribute, in particular in the UK. As FTSE companies large and small navigate the complexity of an activist on the register, chairs want to ensure board colleagues can deal with the stress of what may become a hostile situation. In this context, the ability to bring clear strategic thinking about the business model and to articulate the value proposition are also important selection criteria for prospective non-executive directors.

The nine-year term

What does this more rigorous approach to the skill matrix and succession planning mean for board members?

One structural consequence is shorter terms. There may be a softening on the strict regulatory application of the nine-year tenure limit in the UK, but there is also the practical consideration—how relevant is a board member nine years on? This is obviously dependent on the individual director and how she or he has approached remaining current.

It is clear that chairs are more willing to have a conversation which leads to a non-executive director departing substantially ahead of the nine-year term. Equally, a number of directors choose to move on as they become increasingly scrupulous about only serving on boards where they can best add value.

Another consequence is much greater focus on the collective judgement of the board: ‘the judgement muscle’. Leading chairs clearly recognise cognitive diversity is a critical component of good decision-making and sound board judgement. At Fidelio, we are now seeing a more systematic and consequent approach to embedding this requirement into succession planning, as well as reflecting it in the skills matrix.

In short, boards are responding in multiple ways to the level of uncertainty and change companies face today. The most effective chairs are aligning composition to provide a board capable of overseeing long-term direction and short-term change. What was often quite a simplistic tool, the skill matrix, is becoming increasingly sophisticated and capable of reflecting experience, attributes and cognitive diversity. In turn, boards are acquiring board members with fresh experience of technology and transformation and there is much greater transparency about individual and collective board contribution.

Uncertainty is reshaping our boardrooms and chairs have a choice to be ahead of the curve or at the mercy of events.

Gillian Karran-Cumberlege is co-founder of Fidelio Partners and head of its chair advisory practice.