What should I be doing as a board member?
Practice the art of inquiry
Don’t be put off by fears that you might not be a technical expert. Your role is to provide purposeful, constructive and supportive scrutiny. Use a structured assurance framework to help you ask probing questions that will drive clarity and accountability:
- Strategy and vision: does this work genuinely help our patients and staff? Can you explain the problem(s) it is going to solve
- Data: what data do we have that validates our assumptions, or would demonstrate success?
- Delivery and risk: what are the most significant risks to success, and what role does the board need to play in mitigating them
- User and clinical engagement: where is the evidence of deep co-design with clinicians and patients?
- Team capacity and capability: does the team have the people, skills, time and resources it needs to deliver successfully?
- Cyber security and resilience: is this system secure by design, not simply as an afterthought? How do we know?
- Do we have data that supports this? What data do we have that supports this approach?
- Benefits and value: how will we measure and demonstrate success beyond simple efficiency metrics?
Be the unwavering champion of the user
As a board, hold the executive team accountable for ensuring that digital services are designed with, not for or at, the people who will use it. To do this authentically you need to get out of the boardroom. Visit the wards and clinics. See for yourself how technology is used as a part of the processes and culture of the teams on the ground. Work to understand why technology and data are contributing to better or worse patient and staff experience and look to understand how the board’s decisions and scrutiny can help achieve the outcomes you need.
Support the change through the way you speak about digital
The board has a critical role to play in bridging the gap between technical complexity and strategic objectives, making sure that the link between ‘digital’ and core service delivery is clear.
This is about effective storytelling. Non-executive directors should be empowered to act as catalysts and translators. Challenge assumptions and ensure that conversations remain focussed on strategic goals. And crucially, support your board colleagues to move beyond the ‘I’m not technical but…’ mindset and engage confidently on strategy, risk and user needs.