Deliverable
A reviewed board contribution brief and relevant relationship map.
Wider contribution / Board seats
Make your board contribution clear to the people who shape appointments.
Connect a specific governance contribution with relevant chairs, directors and search advisers, using existing relationships and carefully chosen new ones.
How the outcome takes shape
Board questionsStrategyOversightJudgement
Your contributionRelevant experienceEvidenced decisionsAvailable capacity
A specific board mandate
- Mutual fit
- Nomination process
- Appointment decision
Establish the contribution and mandate
Define the board context in which your experience would be useful: the organisation's stage, its strategic questions, the responsibilities you could undertake and the time you can commit. Agree exclusions, confidentiality and the evidence behind your contribution before identifying people.
Existing relationships might include chairs, directors, investors or former colleagues who know your judgement. Missing relationships may include a nomination committee member, a sector chair or the search adviser for a relevant mandate. A useful first conversation is: “Which decisions will require additional board experience, and where might my operating background make a useful contribution?” It need not begin with a request for a seat.
Conversion / Existing relationships
Explore an appointment through trusted relationships
Start with people who recognise the shared context or have had a genuine prior exchange with you.
Nomination and appointment diligence sit at C4. The organisation and its advisers control assessment and approval; the executive makes informed commitments with appropriate professional support. StepUp prepares and coordinates the work, including organising evidence and questions for the relevant decision makers.
C1Prioritise existing relationships
Confirm genuine relationships with chairs, directors and advisers, plus contact permissions; prepare a relevant relationship shortlist.
C2Open the right conversation
Reconnect around the organisation's governance questions and your potential contribution; prepare a discreet discussion brief.
C3Establish mutual fit
Explore remit, experience, independence questions, timing, availability and the appointment route; document whether a particular mandate merits consideration.
C4Progress the opportunity
Coordinate agreed nomination conversations, assessments, references and diligence with authorised advisers; record completed process commitments.
C5Sustain the relationship
Follow through after appointment, non-selection or delay; retain appropriate contact without repeatedly requesting a role.
Building / Missing relationships
Build relationships around a credible contribution
Build the missing relationships through a relevant contribution, a legitimate introduction or an appropriate direct approach.
A new person introduced by an existing contact starts in Building. The relationship with the introducer remains in Conversion.
B1Map missing relationships
Identify chairs, nomination stakeholders and advisers whose judgement matters in the selected board contexts; record the reason for inclusion.
B2Prepare a credible route
Prepare an introduction grounded in relevant experience, a useful governance discussion or an approved direct approach.
B3Open contact
Make the agreed introduction or approach discreetly; preserve the recipient's choice to engage.
B4Establish a two-way relationship
Develop a reciprocal exchange about governance priorities and agree a suitable continuation; record what each person contributed.
Continue from the evidence you have
A trusted introduction can combine B2 and B3. A substantive discussion of an actual mandate can satisfy B4 and C3 together if the evidence supports both. Otherwise continue at the first unmet Conversion step. C2 opens the outcome-specific conversation; C3 tests a particular opportunity; C5 supports welcomed continuity without one. A current agreed record and a live outcome-specific exchange can satisfy C1 and C2; it does not establish appointment fit. Public visibility and elapsed time are not readiness tests.
B4 establishes a two-way relationship. C3 tests a particular opportunity. Continue at the first unmet Conversion step with one relationship owner; there is no repeated onboarding.
Progress / Evidence
Separate access from appointment
Reciprocal progress
A chair or authorised adviser agrees to consider the executive against a defined mandate.
Final result
A formally approved appointment accepted by the executive. An introduction, shortlist or interview must retain its own label.
One coordinated programme
Begin with a board contribution review
Personal appointment work requires its own permissions, records and reporting. Any corporate relationships or information used in that work need appropriate authorisation. One owner coordinates each person's contact plan across all authorised outcomes; neither the chair nor adviser should receive competing approaches.
The executive owns authentic judgement, substantive discussion and acceptance decisions. StepUp prepares, coordinates and tracks agreed follow-through.
You
Set the priorities. Bring your judgement to the conversations and decisions that need your involvement.
Your office
Your chief of staff or nominated owner validates context, coordinates existing teams and exercises delegated approvals.
StepUp.One
Research, drafting, conversation preparation, coordination and agreed reporting around the relationships in scope.
Review your board contribution
Discuss the board contexts that fit, evidence of relevant judgement, relationships already in place, exclusions and capacity. Leave with a proposed first conversation and agreed decision rights for any further work.
- Board contexts and the contribution you can evidence
- Relevant chairs, directors and advisers
- Capacity, exclusions and confidentiality
- The first useful conversation and appointment decision rights
Arrange an executive briefingFor you or your chief of staff.