Setting Goals for the New Year: Don’t Forget Your Board Ambitions

For most of us, it’s a time of reflection on the past year. We look at our successes and failures, trying to see how we can make the year to come an even better one.

And it’s a time for setting goals.

We all know the importance of goal setting when it comes to future success. Especially at this time of year, we are all setting goals for ourselves, our families and our careers. Some we will achieve but with some of our goals, we may fail. The reason for this failure is often a lack of proper planning; neglecting the steps we need to take to set us on the path to success.

If you are setting goals and one of your goals revolves around positioning yourself for a board career or expanding your board portfolio, then it’s important that you know which steps you need to take to ensure your success. Taking the right steps now towards a fulfilling board career can set you on the path to success in 2019.

This time of year is perfect not only for updating your network but also to make contact with them to ensure that when 2019 rolls around and you need someone in your network to support your quest for a board role, that you are in the forefront of their mind. Sending a Christmas card or an email wishing each person in your network a prosperous new year will let them remember who you are.

To the most valuable assets within your network, you should consider sending a small gift, a token by which they will remember you. I personally like to stay in touch by sending books that I have read and I think others would like to read. Make yourself memorable to your network and they will remember you when the opportunity for a board role knocks.

If your goal is to find a board role then you should make your NED aspirations known to as many people as possible. Networking and finding a board role is in many respects a case of who you know.

You never know when you will run into someone at an end of year function or Christmas party who has the perfect connection to that dream board position. So while you are sipping on a cocktail or waiting in line at the buffet table, have your elevator pitch ready to make others aware that you want to sit on a board.

A CV is a living organism. It’s not something you create once and then it’s ready any time you need it. Your CV grows with you (or at least it’s supposed to!) and just like your will, should be revised at least once a year.

Especially if you have aspirations to get on a board in 2019, you should make sure that your CV is board ready.

One of the main reasons candidates give for missing out on board roles, is not having a Board Ready CV. Many mistakenly believe that, when applying for a position on a Board, they can just hand over their executive CV, hoping that it contains enough information regarding their experience to get them an interview. But this is not often the case.

A Board Ready CV differs from an executive CV in terms of tone, content and structure and can make the difference between a successful application and an unsuccessful one. A Board CV carries a lot of weight during the board application process and therefore it is best to get one professionally written at the beginning of your board search.

As part of getting yourself ready for your new year’s board search, there is no better time than now to send your CV to Board Direction to get it updated and made ready for your board application process.

Anyone who has ever attended one of Board Direction’s Board Appointment Master Classes can speak to the enormous value they get from these. You can read some reviews here.

By attending one of these events you don’t only get access to some of the best information on how to get appointed to a board; you also get to talk to me directly and ask me anything that concerns you about board appointments.

Our attendees also value the opportunity it affords them to rub shoulders with their peers. Many a valuable connection that lead to a board appointment have been made at some of our Board Appointment Seminars.

While you are setting goals for the new year and putting your plans in place, start by setting a date aside and booking your seat to one of these events.

We update our website with current Board vacancies various times a week. No matter the amount of preparation you do to get ready for a board role, if you don’t know what is available all your hard work can be to no avail.

At Board Direction we are proud of the fact that we have grown over the past few years to the point where we now regularly advertise around 250+ current board vacancies every month. If you are serious about setting a goal for yourself to be appointed to a suitable board in the new year, you have to keep a close eye on the vacancies that come up every week.

To get full access to all available vacancies, become a member of Board Direction and enjoy all the perks that come along with your membership.