Steve O’Donnell’s Advanced Directors’ Course insights
Steve O’Donnell CMInstD, Senior Vice President for global technology company HCL Tech, expected to gain valuable insights from the Institute of Directors’ (IoD) Advanced Directors’ Course – but he says it exceeded his expectations.
The immersive three-and-a-half-day course is based around three key themes - board leadership, cultural intelligence and climate awareness. Each day focusses on a different facet of being a director - you, your board and practical governance.
“I was particularly keen to learn about things like cognitive or emotional bias,” says O’Donnell.
“I wasn’t necessarily seeking things like the cultural side but that was very good too. I learned so much from that, things like talking deliberately about culture and values with the board.”
He also enjoyed the reflective nature of the programme.
“A director can be very experienced, chair multiple boards and show up and go through the motions. But by being able to reflect on what you are doing, you can show up better, be more present, bring greater value to the board and invigorate it. I found that very interesting and took that away and did a lot of reflection.”
O’Donnell joined HCL Tech in September and is also Consulting Managing Partner for the company, which employs more than 219,000 people across 60 countries. He was previously New Zealand Managing Partner and board director for IBM.
Although O’Donnell has extensive management and executive experience, being a member of the IBM board for the previous four years was his first governance role.
“It was quite hard initially as you have to get your head out of the management space but I feel very fortunate to have sat as an executive director and been part of conversations at board level and then executed them at management level.
“I found I was good at governance, and I enjoy it and would like to expand on that.”
O’Donnell had enjoyed doing the IoD’s Company Directors’ Course (CDC) and completing the pathway and exams to become a chartered member (CMInstD). So, when the opportunity to do the ADC arose he was keen to apply.
Each ADC cohort is selected to ensure the right mix of skill sets and experience to create a strong and vibrant learning experience.
Most will be IoD Chartered Members with at least three years board experience, have already undertaken the CDC, or an international equivalent, and held positions on multiple boards of qualifying organisations for at least five years.
The programme is facilitated by a team of highly experienced directors who share their experiences, facilitate discussions and work through challenging board scenarios. The curriculum is tailored to suit the skill set, experiences and sectors of each cohort.
“The ADC is completely different to the CDC. It’s more values based,” says O’Donnell. “The facilitators were great and very well experienced and it felt like we were working alongside them as peers, rather than instructors.
“Participants were very experienced senior directors and there was a lot of peer-to-peer learning. About 25 per cent of it was people sharing their experiences. I made a lot of notes from those conversations.
“The networking was very valuable. There was a “Director of the Future” session but even before that, at dinner on the first day, there was a lot of conversation about the future of directors and the use of generative AI. It was so good to see experienced directors either embracing generative AI or curious about it. Some great ‘war stories’ also came out of those discussions.”
For one of the ADC exercises participants develop a personal 90-day plan and outline what they will immediately action from it.
“It was all stuff I could put into practice and build over 90 days. Things like the strategy with a board and being very focused on what you commit to as an organisation. As a board it is so easy to add things but, with finite capacity, if you want to add items you have to remove some.
“So, it’s about being very deliberate about what the board will focus on and revising the strategy more frequently so that it’s a tool you visit regularly, not once a year.
“Something else I took from the course is the importance of a board being able to define experiments versus initiatives. An experiment may feel risky, if it succeeds there is a high reward - but it is allowed to fail. An initiative, however, is something you are going to do and it has to succeed.”
O’Donnell sees ongoing personal development such as the ADC as critical for directors.
“We also discussed and shared experiences about what makes a good director. I believe it is about showing true leadership and is not just about the experience you bring to the board but also the cultural intelligence and ability to keep your skills relevant and adaptive.
“Good governance is so important because the strategy and culture have to be set by the board, and when you have an effective board, those filter throughout the entire organisation.”
The next Advanced Directors’ Course will be held 30 March to 2 April 2025 in Auckland. If you are interested in knowing more about this development opportunity, get in touch with our team on 0800 846 369.