If you want a board role in 2025, there are several elements to focus on. Implement them, and your 2025 Board Appointment Plan will be sorted. Your success is almost guaranteed because success comes from a plan that is:
- easy to implement;
- leads to new board opportunities;
- focuses your attention in the right places;
- reduces frustration;
- results in a board appointment;
- get you a greater return on investment (ROI) on your valuable time.
Seven areas of your 2025 Board Appointment Plan
FOCUS 1: Be realistic
The beginning of the year is the perfect time to set or set your board aspirations. First, based on your current skill set and level of experience, determine if your board aspirations are realistic. If your 2025 board aspirations are NOT compatible with your current skills and experience, it is unlikely to matter how hard you work or how many board applications you submit; a board appointment this year will be unlikely.
So, ask yourself this simple question. “What are the names of organisations I would like to AND are likely to be appointed to in 2025, based on my current skills and experience?
Don’t get me wrong; highly inspirational board and non-executive director (NED) roles can motivate many. This article, however, focuses on the steps you can take to secure a board role in 2025. If your aspirational board roles do not align with your current skills and experience, they may be set aside for the future and replaced by more realistic targets.
FOCUS 2 – Consider your time
Whether you already have a board role or are seeking your first NED appointment, you are likely motivated by the substantial professional and personal rewards for doing so. It has been proven that those who hold independent board directorships earn more, are promoted more often, are better connected and are fast adopters of new business practices and innovations across organisations and industries.
Board appointments are great, but when it comes to developing a plan, you must also consider where and how a board appointment fits your executive and personal life. If you are successful at obtaining a board role, you will usually need to commit to a three year tenure and between 24 and 40 days annually – for some, that will sound like a lot of time; for others, nothing at all. However, finding and securing a board role in 2025 will also take time and effort. Successful NEDs, in my experience, spend almost as much time developing board opportunities as they do in being a NED. Not planning for this is where many fail as they underestimate the effort involved. Your personal and professional life may need to be structured differently to provide the time to make this happen in 2025.
FOCUS 3: Your board pitch
Regardless of your board experience, now is the time to write your board profile, which is the foundation of your non-executive brand. If you already have one, it’s time to revise and refresh it. From there, you must be able to pitch it confidently to anyone, anytime and in any situation.
Do you know your value at board level? And where does it fit in today’s board director marketplace? You must know this and articulate it in a way that makes you memorable. Your board pitch should clearly show how you can help and, in doing so, separate you from the competition and ‘dare them not to appoint you’.
FOCUS 4: Your board CV
The second element of your non-executive brand is your Board CV. It should be significantly different from your Executive CV. It must focus on your strategic capabilities and experience, highlighting your value at board level. If you don’t have a board CV, start drafting one now. The task of writing this document can be as useful as the end product as it may help refine your unique skill set and board pitch. If you do have one, now is the time to ensure it is up to date and fit for purpose.
FOCUS 5: Don’t overlook the obvious
Whilst personal connections still account for most board appointments, around 10% of roles are filled via formal application processes. This is even more so the case for those more significant board roles. So, if you are looking for a board role in 2025, you must be present and active on LinkedIn. Keep an eye on SEEK and industry body job boards, and government websites, and stay in contact with search firms.
Unsurprisingly, most aspiring board directors see finding board vacancies as one of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts of the process. Having all the roles available in one place for many is invaluable, which is why we sourced and advertised almost 4,000 board vacancies last year.
FOCUS 6: Develop and leverage personal connections – new and old
If you don’t know already, over 80% of board roles are filled without any formal application process – using neither an advert nor a recruiter. Instead, they are filled via personal connections or proactive non-executive directors directly approaching companies with an offer to help.
Now is the time to make a plan to ensure that in 2025, your board networking efforts are consistent, sustained, and meaningful. Start by analysing, revising, refreshing, and reconnecting with your existing networks and contacts. When connecting, ensure you tell people you are looking for a board appointment. In some cases, it can be just that easy for a perfect board opportunity to arise.
More importantly, you need to develop new connections. In particular, NEDs (past and present) that sit on boards of the companies you want to be appointed to. Targeting these people is easy to do, It is legitimate and authentic and, as such, can open up opportunities that you would never have found formally. In fact, these sorts of connections are responsible for over 50% of all board appointments.
FOCUS 7: Accountability
This is the step that most people overlook, and doing so is the main reason why so many get frustrated and fail. Some of you will look back at 2024 and recognise that despite your best intentions at the beginning of the year, you didn’t do what you promised. Gaining a board appointment is a process that takes time and perseverance. For most, an accountability plan is essential so that you prioritise weekly tasks. Getting stuff done is fundamentally what we help our members do. Reach out if you need a hand.
If you are serious about board success in 2025, you need a board appointment plan that is easy to implement, achievable, focuses on results and provides a solid return on your time. If you get it right, your plan will be the framework and foundation of your 2025 success. Sometimes, developing the right board appointment plan requires expert know-how and assistance. This is something that I conduct 1:1 with my Non-Executive Director Program members or teach as a virtual session to my Executive Members.
Related Articles
Do you have a list of board target organisations?
How to write a board profile that will get you appointed
About the Author
David Schwarz is CEO & Founder of Board Direction – Australia’s leading board advertising and non-executive career support firm. He has over a decade of experience of putting people on boards as an international headhunter and a non-executive recruiter and has interviewed over one thousand non-executives and placed hundreds into some of the most significant public, private and NFP roles in the world
Share this article on your favourite platform!