Taking the step from Executive to Non-Executive Director
Experienced executives often see becoming a Non-Executive Director (NED) as a logical next step in their career. On the one hand, it offers a great opportunity to enhance their executive role with new ideas and experience acquired as a NED. Equally, there is the opportunity to share knowledge and insight when supporting another business.
In this series of articles we explore the role of a NED, the attributes needed and how you can gain your first NED position. In this first article, we focus on the challenges of achieving your first appointment and the starting points for finding that position.
Is becoming an NED right for you?
The first stage in determining whether becoming a NED is right for you, is to be clear about your motivation. You should not underestimate the commitment required by you, your current company and the organisation you are joining to ensure it is a successful appointment. Don’t be put off by this, as there are significant personal and professional benefits to be gained. These include exposure to different leadership styles, corporate cultures and perhaps companies in different sectors or at different stages within the growth cycle.
What are the challenges in becoming an NED?
Perhaps the most challenging step in becoming a NED, is actually breaking through into the non-executive world and achieving that first appointment. Executives often face the experience/opportunity catch-22 scenario, in that you can’t get a job without the experience, but can’t get the experience without the job. Boards are often looking to find candidates that already have extensive experience of how a board operates and know how a good NED can make a difference.
A good starting point is to seek out opportunities within your existing employer, where you can gain experience of what it’s like to offer strategic input while not having direct executive responsibility. This could be, for example, sitting on a committee that has oversight for a project, or third-party commercial relationship.
Alternatively, you could also secure a non-remunerated NED role. These posts are usually found in public, not-for-profit or third sector organisations such as, charities, educational establishments and community groups. They are a great way to get a foothold in the non-executive market and prove you have the right skills to be an independent board member.
How to find an NED job
As with any other job search, your first task is to reflect on your career to date and ensure that your experience is clearly articulated in your CV. However, it is important to distinguish your executive CV from your NED version.
You should tailor your CV drawing on the aspects of your expertise and experience that are relevant to each specific opportunity, highlighting any Board relevant experience that you have gained which is transferable. This could include devising strategies to enter new markets or develop new products, M&A, capital raising and refinancing, turnarounds and crisis management, implementing organisational change or developing corporate governance.