Are Your Board Packs Answering The Right Questions?

There is a scene in the movie Moneyball, (based on a true story) where the Oakland A's are sitting around the boardroom table discussing how they are trying to rebuild their team on a shoestring budget.

The scouts are arguing about new recruits. They talk about who has a nice swing. Who other teams are chasing. Who "looks like a ballplayer."

Billy Beane, the General Manager, stops them. "You're not asking the right question," he says.

The only thing he cares about is: Do they get on base?

That's because getting on base leads to runs, and runs win games. That's the result he's trying to achieve. It's the only statistic that matters to him at that moment.

Most CFOs I work with are sitting in boardrooms answering the wrong questions.

Their intentions are good. In an effort to be prepared and transparent they build 80-page Board packs with detailed variances, endless KPIs, and commentary on everything from cost centres to forecast confidence levels.

Instead of helping the Board ask the right questions, and giving them the information that they need to answer it, those painstakingly prepared Board packs simply add distractions that prompt follow ups and cause delays.

If your Board packs are getting longer, but your Board meetings are getting no more effective, your CFO is likely answering the wrong questions.

The job of a Board pack isn't to say everything. It's to help the Board understand:

   • What happened
   • Why that's important
   • What we should do next

That's what we help CFOs do in our CFO Boardroom work. We run a simple three-step process to ensure that their Board packs are answering the right questions.

Second, add a "What's Next" slide.
Every pack needs at least one page that looks forward. Where are we heading? What decisions need to be made? One slide is enough to focus the Board on the future.

Third, tie every data point to a strategic insight.
Saying "Margins are down 1.2%" gives the Board a number.
Saying "Margins are down 1.2%, mostly in enterprise pricing. We're testing revised terms next quarter to protect value," gives them insight and direction.

Before any Board meeting, I encourage CFOs to sit down with their CEO and ask two simple questions. What decisions does the Board need to make this quarter? And how can finance help move those decisions forward?

That's the job. Not to flood the Board with information, but to give them enough information to act on.

At their best, the CFO is a closer.

The person who helps the Board connect the dots, and make the call.

Not by telling them what to think, but by giving them the right information, at the right moment, in the right way.

That's what Peter Brand does for Billy Beane in Moneyball. He focuses the team on what actually wins games. And as a result, the real-life Oakland A's break records with one of the lowest budgets in the league.

So, the next time you sit down with your CFO ahead of a Board meeting, ask yourself whether you're giving your Board the information that they think they need, or the information that they need to play to win.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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