What does it take to succeed at the boardroom table? Five seasoned board members with HR credentials offer candid insights to help HR leaders step confidently into board-facing roles.
Preparing for your first board position – or stepping into a role that requires regular interaction with directors – is a significant career milestone.
For emerging HR leaders, it often requires a shift in how they communicate, present ideas and demonstrate leadership impact. Boards think and operate with a sharp focus on governance, risk and long-term value creation.
Below, we draw on the insights of five seasoned experts who share practical strategies for making a strong impression and ensuring your first board experience sets you up for sustained success.
1. Synthesise the ‘so-what’ factor
By Samantha Martin-Williams FAICD FGIA, Chair of NGM Group and Ausfilm International
HR practitioners are uniquely placed to contribute meaningfully in the boardroom. The capabilities that define strong HR practice, including curiosity, judgement, self-reflection and the ability to have difficult conversations, are, in many ways, the same qualities boards draw on to function cohesively.
In my experience as a chair, these power skills are essential to forming a clear and aligned board view.
That clarity strengthens the board’s relationship with management and helps focus collective attention and board decision-making on what matters most.
HR professionals are attuned to facilitating the conditions for success through systems, behaviour and culture. They also tend to possess strong T-shaped skills: deep expertise in human dynamics, workplace relations and strategy (the vertical) combined with a broad, cross-functional understanding of how businesses operate, human capital performance and risk culture (the horizontal).
The 2023 research article The Power of Being T-Shaped: A Guide to Becoming an Exceptional Non-Executive Director, by Russell Reynolds Associates, concluded that directors with T-shaped capabilities are among the most effective, able to contribute specialist insight while engaging constructively across a wide range of board matters by drawing on a set of power skills.
“Communicate in the ideal board-level engagement zone, lead with curiosity and demonstrate a contemporary understanding and appreciation for the CEO’s challenges.” – Samantha Martin-Williams FAICD FGIA, Chair of NGM Group and Ausfilm International
These qualities support good decision-making, build cohesion and foster trust between board and management, contributing to both financial and non-financial outcomes. The principles and behaviours facilitate optimal performance – or an effective governing team, as I call it.
To make the transition, you must also frame your insights through a strategic and commercial lens. Boards don’t just want to hear the what; they need to understand the ‘so what’.
Communicate in the ideal board-level engagement zone, lead with curiosity and demonstrate a contemporary understanding and appreciation for the CEO’s challenges. The mindset and behaviours you bring into the boardroom will determine the influence you have once you’re there.
Read HRM’s article on positioning yourself as a commercial leader.
2. Build trust through balanced insight
By Melissa Mason CPHR GAICD, Non-Executive Director, Community Bank Mosman Bendigo Bank and Freedom for Humanity; founder and consultant, Red Jacaranda Group; and former HR leadER, Service Stream and Lendlease.
Sharing both what’s going well and what’s going wrong – openly and early – with the board sets the tone for a balanced, solutions-focused conversation. Celebrating progress builds credibility and reinforces confidence in leadership, while acknowledging challenges demonstrates transparency and accountability.
When boards hear only problems, the tone can shift to defensiveness or blame. When they hear only successes, they may question what’s being left out.
When presenting a balanced view to the board, lead with what matters most to them – governance, financial and legal risk, and the culture that underpins organisational integrity. Understanding their priorities allows you to tailor insights, data and narratives that anticipate their concerns and address the ‘so what’ before they have to ask.
Whether you’re highlighting positive shifts in data trends or surfacing tensions across the organisation, anchor your message considering the board’s lens.
This approach not only builds trust, but demonstrates respect for the board’s time and decision-making role. It invites constructive dialogue, encourages partnership and positions the board as a source of support rather than scrutiny.
Considering your board audience and taking a balanced approach positions HR as a strategic partner – one that connects people risks and opportunities to the organisation’s long-term resilience.
3. Inculcate HR into the business strategy
By Avril Henry AM FCPA GAICD, Founder, Avril Henry & Associates; former HR Director at Clayton Utz Lawyers, Merrill Lynch and DMR Consulting; and FORMER National Diversity Manager at Westpac
I recommend gaining an insight into the professional qualifications and career history of the board members. Understanding board members’ professional background will give you a good insight into their thinking styles and what they look for in board papers/reports.
Many board members continue to be lawyers, accountants, risk managers and people with business experience who are focused on results, facts and figures. Reports must be logical, with both detailed analysis and a high-level executive summary which tells them the issue, the solution, including options (but only at a high level), your recommended solution and why you chose this. Use facts and figures.
Read HR’s guide to developing and presenting a board report.
While some people think of HR’s work as focusing on ‘soft skills’ (which should really be branded as human skills), HR leaders need to demonstrate that these skills can deliver hard results.
Do this by preparing a business case to support the HR proposal which demonstrates either the financial benefit of what HR is proposing, or the economic cost of not doing anything.
A good example of this was when we introduced paid maternity leave at Westpac, using the business case to demonstrate that replacing women who did not return to work cost more than paying maternity leave and encouraging women to return to work.
Our return-to-work rates soared, and the payback period was just 17 months. Proposed financial outcomes convinced the board.
Read HRM’s glossary of boardroom terms to enhance your executive influence.
4. Explore organisational shadows
By Katriina Tähkä GAICD, CEO of A Human Agency; Chair of Finncare; and Director, Cultivate Indigenous
HR practitioners bring a unique ability to boards with our ability to decode and assess the real culture – not the stuff that gets written in reports to impress the board, but going below the surface to understand what’s really happening.
In my experience, this is the most important strength HR can bring. Review the long-term data on terminations, complaints and sick leave, and bring these insights to the board. What does this tell you about potential risk areas that need attention? Probe for trends, asks questions about what happened and why.
“Understanding board members’ professional background will give you a good insight into their thinking styles and what they look for in board papers/reports.” – Avril Henry AM FCPA GAICD, Founder, Avril Henry & Associates
It’s also important to ‘walk the floor’ occasionally. The AICD company directors course advises directors to be ‘noses in, but fingers out’ in the day-to-day operations of the business. How does it feel? What is the buzz in the room? What behaviours are normal? What do we expect and accept around here? You need to know.
Culture becomes your most strategic lever. It’s the unspoken engine behind performance, reputation and results. Boards are asking, “Are we safe? Are we future-ready?” And culture holds a big part of that answer.
Connect culture to accountability, leadership shadows and risk signals. People and culture risks should feature high on any risk register, in any industry. This is about more than just the risk of things going wrong, but maintaining the health and long-term sustainability of the workforce. Without people, there aren’t many businesses that can survive.
Read HRM’s article 5 types of questions strategic leaders should be asking.
5. Bring strategy into HR data with one powerful phrase
Dr Juliet Bourke GAICD, Chair of Ovarian Cancer Australia
HR reports shouldn’t just present data – they should shape strategy. The key? Always include a sentence that begins with “This means that…” when sharing data with the board.
This small addition translates metrics into meaningful insights for other business units. For example, “This means that for IT…” or “This means that for marketing…”. This ensures your HR lens is influencing conversations beyond culture and remuneration.
Boards often receive information in silos – from finance, risk, marketing and HR. But human
capital insights are relevant across all these domains. By linking HR data to broader organisational goals, you enable the board to consider workforce dynamics when reviewing financial performance, risk profiles or go-to-market strategies.
To do this well, you need to go beyond conversations with executives. Review the minutes of finance, risk and marketing committee meetings to spot where people insights could deepen understanding or change the narrative.
HR leaders who consistently apply this lens will earn a seat at the table not just for HR matters, but across all major business decisions.
The goal is to move from “this is what’s happening in HR” to “here’s what this means for the business.” It’s a shift from reporting to leading.
Hear more about how to get board-ready in this episode of AHRI’s podcast, Let’s Take This Offline, featuring Dr Juliet Bourke. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This article first appeared in the August/September 2025 edition of HRM Magazine.
