A Workshop on a What Makes a Director

In the world of business, one of the biggest challenges for businessmen is to choose the right person to lead their organization or company.

Finding someone who meets all the required criteria is not an easy task, according to Ziad Rayess in his book "Shortcut for a Better Life," and it is important to restructure your relationship with them on a legal and financial level to make them feel like they are part of the investment. This article will delve into the most important qualities for a director, which are divided into two groups: personal qualities and knowledge-based expertise.

In his book "Shortcut for a Better Life", the writer Ziad Rayess mentions: One of the biggest challenges businessmen face is choosing a director or leader for their organization or company or choosing their staff. It’s not easy to find a single person that meets all the criteria, and if you do, and this is confirmed over time (two to three years), it’s important to restructure your relationship with them on a legal and financial level. This makes the appointed director feel that they’re part of the basic structure of the investment.

The most important characteristics needed in a director fall into two groups:

1. Group One (Personal):

Important personal characteristics like:

• Honesty
• Charisma
• Commitment
• Communication
• Competency/efficiency
• Courage
• Acumen
• Generosity and giving
• Concentration
• Listening
• Positive attitude
• Problem solving skills
• Sense of responsibility
• Self-confidence
• Self-discipline
• Helping others
• Learning ability
• Patience and perseverance
• Diversity of languages
• Spirit of initiative
• Clarity of vision
• Knowledge
• Patience
• Justice
• Spirit of respect
• Self-criticism and adjustment
• Maturity
• Humility
• Consistency and will
• Altruism
• Honesty
• Feelings of responsibility to one’s community
• Devotion and loyalty
• Time management

Some of these traits are developed through training and acquisition, and some are innate and not easy to develop.

2. Group Two (Acquired Knowledge):

This list accounts for most accumulated and knowledge-based expertise gained from practice. Most inquiries, discussions, and input between board members or partners and the director/board of directors at the company will center around these characteristics:

• Clarity of vision, task, company goals, and business strategy.
• Reliance on timelines for all goals and reliance on the budget allocated for each goal.
• Familiarity with the final project that the company offers, its quality based on continuous evaluation, and end beneficiary satisfaction levels.
• Regular updates of reports and data with clear analysis, with the goal of improving or rectifying weak points.
• Ability and instruments to design actionable corrective plans.
• Knowledge of internal company regulations and insistence that they be used and included in the periodic monitoring program.
• Ability to hold weekly meetings with employees and follow up on implementation of past decisions. There also should be a spirit for training and educating employees to use tools to implement approved policies and regulations, either directly or through approved individuals. They must also be able to evaluate their performance and continuously motivate them so they can implement and develop policies.
• Transparency, shown by submitting periodic performance reports to the partners.
• Effective discussions and follow-up on staff initiatives; support for and development of such initiatives; ability to use units of measurement for performance and production.
• Ability to improve the company’s public image before clients, whether in terms of services or consumer products.
• Passion and consistent effectiveness for developing work policies.
• Ability to reduce the company’s cost-sales ratio; sales must be constantly improved, while available energy must be better capitalized on.
• Spirit of teamwork, cooperation, integration, synergy, and combined efforts; a willingness to foster camaraderie among workers.
• Reliable capacity for excellence and prioritizing the organization’s interests over personal interests for everyone working at the company; in turn, capacity to create some employee satisfaction with their conditions by rewarding and appreciating the successful ones and warning, then punishing, the ones with bad performance.
• Concern for the human dimension of relationships with workers and staff and the provision of services; taking the initiative to remove any obstacles they might face in improving their work; an eager attitude toward offering training and capacity-building programs.
• Possession of the tools to train alternate staff for sensitive locations and crucial joints in the company structure.
• Constant capacity-building through performance development programs, benefitting from others’ expertise, and studying others’ failures and successes.
• Use of tools and programs for relationships and networking with other organizations.
• Creating a system for documenting and indexing all work done at the company for ease of access when information is needed.
• Forming a work team whose main goal is planning, oversight, monitoring, evaluation, and making decisions; They should have sufficient skills; They should be granted authority and responsibilities under accountability.

When the two groups of qualifications are fulfilled, the result is an important, pioneering leadership team that should be preserved. The team will be capable of implementing the required international governance systems throughout the company. They will give the company powerful motivation and contribute to its development.

Conclusion:

Having a visionary leadership team that fulfills both personal and knowledge-based requirements is crucial for any organization's success. These leaders should be capable of implementing the required international governance systems throughout the company to advance the business. While some of the listed personal traits can be acquired, most are innate and challenging to cultivate. On the other hand, knowledge-based expertise can be acquired through practice and continuous improvement. A business can lay a solid foundation for development and success by meeting both of these sets of requirements.