For NEDs Playing the Long Game
Part 3 in the “From the Touchline” series
The real value of a NED isn’t measured in meetings. It’s earned in what happens between them, and how consistently you multiply the leadership team’s strategic thinking capability over quarters and years, not weeks.
When you’re leading from the touchline, your influence isn’t in the frequency of your involvement. It’s in the quality of your perspective, the consistency of your judgement, and the quiet confidence that you’re building sustainable competitive advantage through The Strategic Multiplication Framework™.
Some of the best NEDs I’ve worked alongside are often the least visible day to day. But they’re the ones who ask the sharpest questions that unlock stalled thinking. Who notice the patterns others miss because they’re too close to the operational detail. Who stay steady when things wobble, providing strategic clarity when the team needs it most. And who bring the clearest sense of what matters for long-term value creation.
They don’t obsess over this quarter’s metrics. They track the direction of strategic travel. They’re not distracted by operational noise. They notice where strategic focus is quietly slipping away from agreed intent.
Staying useful, not visible
It’s tempting to show up often, to be active, engaged, seen to be adding value. But visibility isn’t multiplication. Some of the most impactful board members I’ve worked with intervene only when it shifts the strategic conversation in ways the executive team couldn’t achieve alone.
They understand that being useful means multiplying the team’s capability to think and act strategically, not replacing their decision-making with your own operational experience.
In my own NED roles, I’ve learned that the board member who shows up only to ask the question that clarifies strategic intent, steadies long-term direction, or unlocks blocked decision-making, often has the most lasting multiplication effect.
It’s about timing. But more than that, it’s about holding the strategic picture while others are necessarily pulled into day-to-day execution.
Between the meetings is where multiplication builds
What you do between board meetings matters more than most realise for building the trust that makes strategic multiplication possible.
A quiet check-in with the Chair about strategic direction rather than operational detail. A brief call to the CEO that doesn’t ask for a report, just shows strategic support during challenging periods. A comment on the board pack that clarifies strategic thinking rather than critiques tactical choices.
I know first-hand how much time executive teams invest in preparing board packs. Sometimes too much time, if we’re honest. But nothing undermines that effort more than a NED who hasn’t read it thoroughly. If we want our strategic interventions to be taken seriously in the room, the least we can do is respect the strategic thinking that’s gone into the preparation.
One approach I often use before a board meeting is letting the CEO or relevant executive know if I’m planning to ask a potentially challenging strategic question. It’s not about softening the challenge. It’s about giving them a fair opportunity to think through their strategic response. That kind of respect builds maturity in the conversation and avoids putting people on the defensive when what you’re really after is strategic clarity.
These moments build the rhythm of trust that makes multiplication possible. They create the strategic partnership that means when you do speak up in the boardroom, it lands as strategic enhancement rather than operational interference.
Trust isn’t just about staying in your lane. It’s about demonstrating that you’re tracking the strategic mission consistently, not just appearing for meetings.
Strategic patience in a quarterly world
The pressure to deliver fast results is everywhere. Especially in PE-backed businesses, where pace and returns are naturally under scrutiny from portfolio managers who need to report upward momentum.
But the best NEDs understand that pace without strategic perspective is just expensive activity. They’re not anti-results. They’re pro-sustainability. They know that The Strategic Multiplication Framework™ builds capability that compounds over time rather than depletes with pressure.
They back the team’s execution capability while challenging when the tempo becomes reactive rather than strategic. They hold the mission steady when market conditions change. And when the operational data tells one story, but the leadership dynamics tell another, they pay attention to both signals.
This is where your operational background becomes valuable, not to second-guess tactical decisions, but to spot when operational pressure is undermining strategic thinking capability.
What strategic patience actually looks like
Strategic patience isn’t about being passive. And it’s not about holding back when intervention could multiply effectiveness. It’s about understanding that your role is to build long-term strategic capability, not solve short-term operational problems.
It means asking what this quarter’s execution patterns mean for next year’s strategic direction. Being the person in the room who hasn’t forgotten the strategic intent that was agreed last year. Catching the subtle signs that operational pace is hiding strategic drift from agreed objectives. Encouraging the CEO’s strategic thinking without protecting them from market reality.
It’s about consistency of strategic focus, curiosity about what’s driving behaviour below the surface, and courage to challenge gently but firmly when the business is being pulled off strategic course.
The multiplication effect over time
NEDs who focus on multiplying strategic thinking capability rather than solving operational problems create boards that get stronger over time rather than more dependent.
The executive team develops better strategic judgement because they know someone is tracking long-term direction consistently. Decision-making improves because strategic intent stays clear even when operational conditions change. The business builds resilience because strategic thinking capability is distributed throughout the leadership team, not concentrated in the NED’s experience.
Most importantly, the organisation develops what I call “strategic immune system”—the ability to recognise and correct strategic drift before it becomes a crisis requiring external intervention.
Building strategic thinking in others
The best multiplication happens when you help executive teams think more strategically rather than thinking for them. This means asking questions that develop their strategic capability: “What does this operational pattern tell us about our strategic assumptions?” “How does this tactical decision align with our long-term competitive positioning?” “What would we need to believe for this execution approach to create sustainable advantage?”
These questions don’t solve the problem. They multiply the team’s ability to solve strategic problems more effectively. Over time, the executive team starts asking these questions themselves. That’s when you know the multiplication is working.
When long-term focus becomes competitive advantage
Short-term operational leadership is loud and visible. Long-term strategic leadership is rarely recognised until the results compound over years.
But if you’re in a NED role, this is the game you’re playing. You’re not there to win the quarter through operational intervention. You’re there to build strategic thinking capability that keeps direction clear, mission alive, and focus strong enough to outlast market noise and competitive pressure.
The organisations that master this approach develop sustainable competitive advantages that are difficult for competitors to copy: distributed strategic thinking that outpaces centrally planned rivals, adaptive execution capability that responds to market changes while maintaining strategic direction, and leadership depth that provides resilience during challenging periods.
The measurement challenge
Traditional NED effectiveness is often measured by meeting attendance, question quality, and governance compliance. But multiplication effectiveness is different. It’s measured by whether the executive team’s strategic thinking capability improves over time. Whether decision-making quality increases even when you’re not in the room. Whether strategic direction stays consistent even when operational conditions change rapidly.
The real test of multiplication leadership: how effectively does the organisation maintain strategic focus and make strategic decisions when you’re not directly involved?
The patience paradox
The paradox of strategic patience is that it often accelerates long-term results. When you resist the urge to solve operational problems personally and instead build the strategic thinking capability that prevents those problems from recurring, you create acceleration that compounds.
Teams move faster when they understand strategic intent clearly. Decision-making improves when strategic thinking capability is distributed. Execution becomes more effective when everyone understands not just what needs to happen, but why it matters for long-term competitive positioning.
This doesn’t come from speaking often in meetings. It comes from building strategic thinking capability consistently over time.
The Strategic Multiplication Framework™ forms part of my strategic operations consulting approach. Working as Chair/NED, Interim CEO, or Executive Coach, I help senior management teams multiply their strategic knowledge and operational effectiveness.
Follow the complete “From The Touchline” series for frameworks that build long-term strategic capability through systematic multiplication.
