Produced by Julie Garland-McLellan, Consultant at AltoPartners Australia and non-executive director and board consultant based in Sydney, Australia.

Contribution by Corinne Klajda. Corinne leads Nuvadis in Poland and is a co-founder of the AltoPartners alliance. She advises boards, leads C-level interim projects, and coaches CEOs. With experience in China and Poland, she holds degrees from BLCU and CEIBS Shanghai. A passionate philanthropist, she raised 1M+ PLN for Paralympic girls through #CorinneRunsForGood, completing multistage desert ultramarathons. She’s a long-time YPO member, mentor, and connector of purposeful leaders. She is based in Warsaw, Poland.

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The Director’s Dilemma - October 2026

This month our real-life board dilemma concerns a board that has a chair who is best described as ‘chaotic’.

Nova is a young company director who has just been appointed to her first paid board role. The board is a government agency in an area she cares deeply about. She respects the CEO and has been looking forward to contributing her experience and helping the organisation succeed.

Her first board meeting, however, was a shock. The agenda was well structured. The papers were clear and concise, with decisions clearly identified and discussion papers that highlighted the insights management sought from directors. Yet the meeting itself was chaotic. The Chair began each item with, “Okay, item X. Who wants to start?” From there, discussion became a free-for-all. The chair contributed as enthusiastically as everyone else. Directors talked over one another, interrupted, conducted side conversations and raised valid points that were not built upon as the discussion moved on. There was no effort to draw the discussion together, test different views, or establish what the board has actually concluded. When the allocated time for an agenda item expired, the Company Secretary attempted to bring the discussion to a close and summarise the key points from his notes. The meeting ran well over time.

Nova left convinced that important issues were missed and that the board failed to provide the CEO and management with the thoughtful challenge, guidance and decisions they were clearly seeking. She is a new director, with limited board experience outside the not-for-profit sector, and does not want to undermine the Chair or appear presumptuous. Nor does she want to squander the opportunity to make a real difference. How can she make her board more effective?

Corinne’s Answer

It’s worth naming the obvious first: this is Nova’s first paid board seat, and it’s natural to wonder whether a newcomer really has standing to say anything at all, rather than assume everyone else in the room knows something she doesn’t. She should push back on that instinct. She didn’t land this seat by accident; the same judgment that got her appointed is exactly what she’s watching go unused in that meeting. The confidence gap is normal. It isn’t evidence.

What she does need is tact, not hesitation. Being new doesn’t mean staying quiet, it means being deliberate about how she raises it: consultative, curious about the dynamics at play, and alert to the fact that the Chair, the CEO and the Company Secretary may all have their own history and sensitivities around this pattern that she can’t see yet from the outside.

With that in mind:

Don’t try to fix it from the floor mid-meeting: nothing dents a new director’s credibility faster than “well actually” in front of the CEO. Book time with the Chair instead. Frame it as a question, not a critique: “How do we usually capture what the board has actually decided?” That question does the work - it names the gap without naming a target.

Come with one concrete ask, not a list. The single highest-leverage fix: the Chair closes every agenda item with an explicit statement of the board’s position, even “we need more information before deciding X.” One habit, and the free-for-all stops evaporating into “well, that was a nice chat” at the 60-minute mark.

Engage the Company Secretary. The poor man is already trying to summarise a runaway train from his notes, alone, against the clock. He’ll welcome an ally.

Nova has more reach here than she thinks. She just needs to use it with care.

Julie’s Answer

Nothing is more dangerous than solving the wrong problem, even if you solve it at the right time: Before Nova tries to change the way the board operates, she should spend some time diagnosing what is really going wrong. The chaotic meeting may be a symptom rather than the underlying problem.

First, she should consider the Chair’s strengths. Is the Chair an industry expert? It is not unusual for a minister to appoint a subject-matter expert as Chair, even if that person has limited experience chairing meetings or no formal chair training.

If so, Nova could explore whether an external facilitator might help manage the flow of the meeting, freeing the Chair to contribute fully to the board’s deliberations. She could ask the CEO or Company Secretary whether this has been considered. There is no requirement that the Chair personally facilitate the board’s discussions.

Next, Nova should step up. The Chair is not the only person capable of creating order. When the Chair asks, “Who would like to start?”, Nova could respond with a simple structure. E.g.: “Why don’t we each identify one thing we support and one concern, and then we can work through them?” introducing structure without criticising, she can help the board move from a free-for-all to a useful deliberation. Some interruptions and side conversations may naturally disappear when discussions are guided.

If that does not work, Nova should have a private conversation with the Chair. She could ask: “Is there anything I can do to help you get the best out of the board’s discussions?” She can then tactfully share what she has observed. The Chair is likely to be glad that other directors want to – and can – help.

With tact, respect and an appreciation of what each director brings to the table, Nova may be able to turn a dog’s breakfast into a high-performing board — without ever needing to announce that anything is wrong.