In this blog, we share practical tips for running a sharper, more structured recruitment and interview process when appointing Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. Joëlle Warren, MBE recently spoke to our Dynamic Boards NED community on this topic.
Mind The Gap
Before you get to the interview stage, you need to be clear on what you are actually looking for in a new NED or Chair. When someone leaves the board, you will inevitably lose certain skills but that doesn’t mean you should simply try to replace like for like. This is where some boards go wrong. They default to recruiting a replacement rather than thinking about the role with a fresh set of eyes. The outgoing board member may have been recruited three, six or nine years ago, and the business’s needs will have naturally moved on. What the board needed then may not be what it needs now. That’s where a skills and perspective audit comes in as it can show you where the real gaps are today.
Get On Board
Before you firm up any details, you need to ensure that the board is on the same page from the outset. “I’m a big fan of getting buy-in from the whole board on the key qualifiers and the recruitment process,” says Warren. “You don’t want to be in the situation where you get to the end of the process and you need board approval but you find people are not happy as they didn’t agree with it in the first place.” Securing board-wide alignment early on helps avoid last-minute objections and ensures a smoother, more confident appointment process.
Cast The Net Further
Once you’ve agreed on the kind of candidate you’re looking for, and the board is aligned, the next step is to think about how you broaden the talent pool and improve the diversity of candidates you’re seeing. You don’t want to rely solely on your own network or the same approach you’ve used for the last ten years. It’s worth being intentional about this stage, rather than slipping into old habits.
One way to attract a wider range of talent is by bringing your advert to life. Warren recommends including a personal letter from the Chair or Senior Independent Director in your candidate information pack, as that simple, more human touch can really help candidates understand what you’re looking for and why the role matters. Video can also be a powerful way to reach candidates. At Dynamic Boards, for example, we interview existing board members and CEOs to give candidates a genuine feel for an organisation when applying for a NED, Chair or Trustee role (here’s an example). It offers a real flavour of the culture and what it’s like to sit on that board. That can be the nudge a great candidate needs to put themselves forward for a role they might not otherwise have applied for.
Conversation Over Interrogation
Because the role of a Non-Executive Director is not the same as that of an Executive Director, the interview needs to be approached differently. Executive Directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of a business, so interviews should focus on their operational capability and execution. Non-Executive Directors, on the other hand, provide strategic oversight and governance, so the emphasis should be on their judgement, how they approach issues, and their ability to contribute at board level.
“This is where I think people sometimes get it wrong,” says Warren, who cautions against board recruiters turning the interview into an interrogation. “A NED or Chair interview needs to be much more conversational, as you need to assess the candidate’s ability to think and build relationships.” She believes the skill of asking great questions, in the right way, is a key part of being a NED. “You need to allow the candidate to demonstrate that in the interview.”
In order to achieve a natural conversation and get the best from candidates, it’s important to also consider the physical setup of the room. Think about how many people need to be present, who will be in the room, how candidates will be welcomed, and who will greet them. All of these small details are important.
Interview Questions
There are some obvious questions you need to ask, and it’s fine to start with these to help warm up candidates. These might include:
- What piqued your interest in this opportunity?
- What are you bringing to our board at this time?
- What do you think makes a good NED or Chair?
- As a Chair, how do you develop a strong working relationship with the CEO?
But the aim will be to guide candidates into a more strategic conversation. Warren recommends questions such as:
- What are your views on the future of the industry? That shows they are thinking.
- What do you like about our strategic direction? Highlights whether they have done their homework.
- What concerns you? Showcases their ability to challenge and how they do it.
She believes these are a good way to assess a candidate’s thinking, whether they have done their homework, and their ability to challenge.
Character Alignment
As part of Warren’s recruitment framework, she uses the three Cs: Character, Capability and Chemistry. Character is about assessing whether someone’s values and behaviours align with those of your organisation. It’s not something you can judge from instinct or first impressions alone – you need to gather evidence throughout the recruitment process.
Warren’s tip is to write your organisation’s values down first, then use them as a reference point when reviewing a candidate’s CV, interviews and interactions with others involved in the process.
“Don’t forget the role of references,” says Warren. “I don’t mean just written references. Get input from your colleagues on every interaction they have had with the candidate – for example, the PA who arranged the meeting, the receptionist who greeted them, the CEO who may have had a conversation with them. Bring all of that together. It’s all evidence of character,” she says.
Assess Capability
Capability is the second of Warren’s three Cs and focuses on whether someone has the skills, experience and judgement needed for the role.
CVs and cover letters are a useful starting point for gathering evidence of a candidate’s experience and suitability to operate effectively at board level. They help you understand the breadth of experience, the types of organisations someone has worked with, and the governance environments they’ve been exposed to. It’s worth taking an intentional approach to reviewing them and making sure they cover the key criteria you’re looking for – things like evidence of risk oversight, committee experience, stakeholder engagement, or exposure to remuneration or audit work.
Once you get them in a face-to-face interview, you’ll be able to go deeper into the details. You can assess capability by moving from claims to evidence of behaviour and judgement in context – essentially testing how someone has actually operated, not just what they’ve done. It will also allow you to work out how they think in real time. Presenting them with a board-level scenario and asking how they would approach it is a great way to do this. Paying attention to how they process this, what questions they ask, what risks they identify and what they prioritise all become strong indicators of how they would operate at board level.
Chemistry Check
Chemistry is the third of Warren’s three Cs and is about understanding whether someone can build effective working relationships with the existing board and wider organisation.
It’s important to assess the chemistry of an individual when interviewing for a new NED or Chair, but equally important to strike the right balance. It’s not about hiring in your own image or defaulting to someone who simply feels familiar and socially comfortable. This is where boards sometimes go wrong. True chemistry is about whether you can work together effectively, have open and honest conversations, and challenge each other in a constructive way. You need enough of it to function as a cohesive team, but not so much that you lose the tension, scrutiny, and diversity of perspective that actually makes a board strong. Difference is important and something to be celebrated but that has to sit alongside strong communication skills. “You can be brilliant technically but if you can’t communicate with people then you might as well not know anything!” says Warren.
Adopt The Rule of Three
Warren has another simple rule of three that she uses in her Exec and Non-Exec recruitment. This is that a candidate should be seen by at least three different people on three different occasions and doing three different things. “We all have good days and we all have better days. It’s good to have that pause in our processes to allow for that,” she says. First impressions count but they can also be wrong.
Board meetings are not the only aspect of what Non-Execs and Chairs do. They also stand up at AGMs, analyse documents, interact with executive teams, and act as ambassadors. Seeing a candidate in a panel interview alone therefore doesn’t fully assess their ability to perform across all of these settings. To gain a broader insight into a candidate’s suitability for a role, in addition to a panel interview, Warren aims to see candidates in a social interaction with NEDs who haven’t been part of the panel or executive directors, or in a discussion with a stakeholder group.
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