Customer Advisory Boards Worth Serving On: 7 Tips from Mark Hall, advisory board member and former multi-sector CIO & CTO
In Mark Hall’s time as a CIO / CTO in financial services, government, energy, and utilities, he’s served on advisory boards for multiple enterprises.
Whether you’ve been invited to serve on a board or are hosting one, Mark’s cross-company and cross-sector perspective can help you consider what makes board service worth a senior executive’s time.
>> Want more of the story? Read Mark’s full Q&A.
>> Want to hear from other customer advisory board leaders? Read more Farland Group client interviews.
[TIPS FOR CUSTOMER ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS]
1. Don't join a board because you feel flattered. Join for a clear purpose.
As a potential member, "think clearly about why you'd like to do this. Avoid the compliment. Avoid your ego." Join to influence what suppliers build, for the privilege of relationships that are otherwise hard to form, and for personal skill development. "When you're in an executive role, you're paid to make decisions. When you sit on these boards, you're asked to give advice. There's a real difference in skill."
2. Your job is to bring context the supplier can't get by themselves. Deliver it directly.
"The supplier might say, 'We're launching this new product,' and it all makes perfect sense to them...in their own context. As the customer board member, “you bring the context that's impossible for them to know by themselves.” Don’t let three meetings go by confused by a product strategy. “As I've grown in confidence...I can just go, 'Look, sorry, I just don't understand this.'"
3. Look for signs the hosts are willing to challenge and change their thinking.
On the strongest boards, “We’d be debating and challenging what the supplier is trying to do. Do they change their point of view at any point during the conversation? If there's no change—are they just looking to reinforce their existing view? To what degree are they ready to be challenged about what they do?"
4. Use board participation to build your own decision confidence, not just to give product input.
"It is increasingly difficult to know what the right strategy is. The only way is by having more data points—both hard and soft. That's where you can see the value in these boards. On any given day, the customer might be further ahead than the supplier. It's a two-way conversation...a different type of learning which isn’t just about the customer context—it's about what everyone is experiencing and seeing."
5. Invest in board relationships like the long-term asset they are.
"They're beyond acquaintances because you work together quite a lot; they are colleagues...from whom you get really good insight. There have been situations where I've needed something, and I can seek help from the chief executive because we know each other really well. It's a privileged position to be in."
[TIPS FOR CONVENING COMPANIES]
6. Treat an advisory group like a “proper” board—or reconsider what you're calling it.
“There's something about the intimacy of the setting to feeling you're truly helping develop their strategy...A small number of people, around a board table, a rich, deep conversation like a governance board would have. People get confused about whether these advisory board programs are for relationship-forming, sales, user group support. Be transparent about what you’re trying to achieve,” and make sure board recruitment, operations, facilitation and even what you call it facilitate alignment to that purpose.
7. Welcome the debate from members—and show you’ve put their advice to work.
"Some executives are threatened by this process,” leaving any substantive challenge or debate to "only happen on the sidelines—over coffees, at dinners," not in the boardroom. "On the best boards, the supplier execs show up as a team,” actively ask to be challenged, and close the loop: "The best board plays back what changes as a result. 'Last time we talked about this; it's now evolved to that; we took this into account.'"