Chairing The Board When The Wheels Are Coming Off
We’re in a moment where pressures are compounding. Inflationary drag, cautious consumer behaviour, rising costs of capital, and the reverberations of policy shifts from the Spring Statement are being felt across boardrooms. Add international supply-side pressures and a jittery lending environment, and it’s no surprise some businesses are beginning to feel structurally exposed.
For many boards, this is uncharted territory. Business plans are missing. Liquidity is tight. The executive team may be underpowered for the severity of the moment. And suddenly, the boardroom, once a place of oversight and strategy, becomes a pressure cooker.
This is when the Chair matters most. Not for show. Not to grab the wheel. But to keep the board constructive, the agenda grounded, and the room steady. It’s about supporting the CEO while still holding a clear view of what the business, and its stakeholders, need next.
Set the Tone
Reset the Tone, Not the Truth
In pressured environments, boards can become reactive, anxious, or oddly passive. Conversations tighten. Blame creeps in. The Chair is the only person in the room with both the authority and neutrality to calm the tone without suppressing the truth.
This isn’t about soft-soaping the reality. It’s about framing it clearly and constructively. Acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. Encourage plain speaking. Keep the discussion focused on impact and action.
Keep Division Out of the Room
A board under strain cannot afford visible fracture. As Chair, your work starts before the meeting: speak with each director, draw out concerns, and address disagreements privately. Alignment doesn’t mean silencing debate, but disruption in the meeting is already too late.
Do the groundwork so the boardroom remains a place for clear thinking and collective focus, not a theatre for unresolved tensions.
Get Information Discipline Right
Help Focus the Plan
The executive team will be under pressure to produce answers, often too many. Your role is to help cut through the noise. Ask for a clear, high-level view: what matters now, what’s being done, where the exposure sits, and what scenarios are being prepared for. Keep it short, sharp, and real.
You’re not there to rewrite the strategy, but you can insist on clarity over cosmetics. The board doesn’t need polish, it needs perspective. A single page that captures priorities, risks, and triggers is worth more than any slide deck.
Reset the Board Pack
In pressured times, the board pack itself can become part of the problem. Executives spend an inordinate amount of time producing weighty decks, and yet it’s not unusual for at least one NED to turn up without having read it.
As Chair, you can reset expectations. Strip the pack back to what’s essential: today’s position, cash, critical risks, and near-term actions. Encourage management to prepare fewer pages, but sharper ones. Then hold directors to account for doing their homework before they arrive.
Coach the Discipline of Reporting
A board report is not just paperwork. Done properly, it’s a discipline that forces executives to pause and reflect: what are they trying to achieve, how are they going about it, how does it fit with the company’s overall direction, what’s working and what isn’t, and what are they going to do about it?
As Chair, you can coach the executive team to treat board reports in this way. The value lies less in the pages produced and more in the thinking it requires. It strengthens management and elevates the quality of the board’s conversation.
Strip Back the Agenda
If directors have read the pack, there’s no need to spend two hours walking through it in the meeting. Focus the agenda on what matters now: cash, customers, risks, and decisions.
Keep updates short. Cut out ritualistic slide reviews. Use board time for dialogue, not presentation. A leaner agenda signals urgency and ensures the meeting adds value instead of consuming it.
Enforce Meeting Discipline
Don’t Run a Court Hearing
When pressure builds, some boards slip into trial mode. The meeting becomes an ordeal for executives, with directors cross-examining rather than collaborating.
A good Chair sets the tone. Probe, yes, but probe with purpose. Frame questions to clarify, not to catch out. Encourage directors to test thinking in ways that help sharpen the executive’s approach. The aim is not to pass judgement, but to move the business forward.
Board meetings should feel like a source of value for the business, not a court session the executives must endure.
Bring the Team into the Room
In tough times, CEOs sometimes try to shield their teams from board pressure. And understandably so, some execs will never have lived through a scenario like this. But you, as Chair, can encourage visibility in a way that builds confidence without exposure.
Ask to hear directly from functional leaders. Allow the board to see ownership being taken across the senior team. Let the CEO know you’ll support them in that.
At the same time, be aware of your NEDs. A stressed board can start leaning into operational areas they shouldn’t. Keep the boundary clear: input, yes; execution, no.
Remember, You’re Not the CEO
For many seasoned leaders, the instinct is to fall back on the habits that served them in executive roles: being directive, taking control, and leaning on force of personality. That style might feel natural, but it doesn’t belong in the Chair.
As Chair, your authority comes from restraint, not dominance. The CEO must lead the business. Your role is to hold the board steady, protect the process, and create the conditions for the executive team to lead. Slip into “boss mode” and you risk undermining the CEO, confusing accountability, and turning the board into a shadow executive committee.
The strongest Chairs know their influence is quiet, deliberate, and decisive, never overbearing.
Refocus the Board
Shift the Board’s Scorecard
When trading weakens, it’s likely the old business plan is no longer valid. Targets are being missed, BAU debates lose relevance, and the board risks chasing ghosts.
This is when the Chair can reset the compass: define a short-term Mission and back it with a handful of clear Objectives. It might be as simple as three priorities, protect cash, preserve customers, preserve core capability, stabilise morale. But framed clearly, it gives the board and the executive team something concrete to align behind.
Don’t let a distressed business be judged by a peacetime scorecard.
Keep Funder Relationships in Perspective
When liquidity tightens, funders inevitably move closer to the centre of the conversation. The board needs visibility of how those discussions are unfolding, but it must not become consumed by second-guessing investor sentiment.
The CEO should lead with transparency, and as Chair your role is to ensure engagement is proportionate: frequent enough to stay informed, but not so intense that board energy becomes entirely funder-facing. Keep the board’s focus on the business itself, not just the mood of its backers.
(And for investors reading this: expect your Chair to do exactly this. It’s one of the clearest signals of value in a difficult period.)
Understand When Duties Shift
When the business begins to stretch creditors or defer payments, you may be closer to the legal line than it appears. Most directors, including non-execs, operate under the assumption that their duty is to shareholders. But once the business is at risk of insolvency, that duty may shift to creditors.
This is where early legal advice is wise. Encourage the CEO and CFO to speak with an insolvency lawyer before things escalate. Let them explain what’s being done to protect value, and ask for written confirmation that the actions being taken are reasonable and aligned with directors’ duties.
(Subject to the position of the business, it might be wise for your legal or insolvency advisor to be present and advise upon these matters at regular formal board meetings.)
Maintain Presence
Create a Rhythm That Calms
Don’t let formal meetings carry all the weight. Encourage informal, short updates between board cycles, light touch check-ins that allow directors to stay informed and reduce the temperature in the room.
This also allows NEDs to ask questions outside the formal environment of the full board. Done well, it gives the executive team breathing space while maintaining transparency and trust.
Do the Work Between Meetings
When tensions are high, the Chair’s real influence often comes outside the boardroom. Take the time to call directors individually, surface issues, and keep showboating out of sight.
By the time the board convenes, people should arrive ready to contribute rather than compete. The difference between a constructive session and a disruptive one is often the unseen preparation.
This Is When the Chair Earns Their Keep
In fair weather, a Chair can sometimes operate at arm’s length, offering guidance and reassurance without much strain. Many boards are content with this, the “heavyweight” figurehead who signals credibility to investors and ticks the governance box.
But when trading falters, that model is no longer enough. The Chair’s role shifts from ceremonial to critical. This is the moment to earn your keep: to bring calm authority, to frame the debate, to cut through noise, and to keep both the board and the CEO focused on what really matters.
A Chair who hides behind the title adds no value. A Chair who steps forward with clarity and discipline can make all the difference.
Final Thought
This is when people look to the Chair. Not for technical answers or heroic interventions, but for calm authority. The Chair doesn’t take over. They steady the room, protect the process, and hold the space so that others can do their best thinking.
In many ways, it’s the hardest time to Chair a board, and also the most important. These are the moments when governance either holds its shape or falls apart. If you get it right, you create a container for resilience, focus, and recovery. You give the CEO space to lead. You help the board stay constructive. And you guide the organisation through the fog without needing to raise your voice.
Lead from the touchline. Keep your presence steady. And hold the board, and yourself, to a higher standard when it matters most.
