Helping Hands Limited (HH) is a UK based private company limited by shares. HH was created 10 years ago by its founder and CEO Emily Chan. Emily recognised the need to provide a reliable and trusted company through which tradespeople can connect with potential clients. HH has a database of trusted cleaners, repair and maintenance people, decorators, and plumbers that the public can access for free upon registering with HH.

Traders pay to quote for jobs posted by customers, who can then leave feedback about them. The identities and qualifications of traders who apply to join are verified by HH, and data analysis tools are used to check they have not been banned in the past and that the reviews are by genuine customers. Traders must demonstrate their technical knowledge and professionalism and undergo background checks on their identity and business; 40% of applicants are declined.

HH has secured alliances with key groups such as Age UK, Mums Net, Gumtree and has a highly visible presence on the main search engines. HH is in the process of negotiating an alliance with SAGA plc and Trustpilot.com.

HH leases offices in Luton where a team of 500 employees manage the website, provide customer service, and carry out the administrative functions of the business. HH operates in a competitive marketplace and its strategy is to align itself to existing trusted brands to gain market share and to diversify its offering through HH and its new projects. Since the pandemic, many employees have been reluctant to return to office-based working although Emily feels this is essential to ensure productivity and performance which has made recruitment difficult. Employees have daily targets and performance against target dipped during the pandemic. As a result, profits have suffered and the directors of HH are currently considering an opportunity to diversify by developing an online tutoring site, Helping Learn.

The board meets every month and has no sub-committees. Meetings are characterised by efficiency and can be rather transactional with an increasing tendency for board members to submit their questions in advance. Discussions rarely stray from the regular agenda items and if they do, members feel pressure to keep contributions short. Emily is becoming frustrated by the lack of progress and keen to implement the diversification strategy to take the company in a new direction and improve profitability.

Prishna Kumar has been the non-executive Chair since 2015 and was appointed after Emily took the decision to formalise HH’s governance arrangements to reflect its growth in size, in terms of profit and operations. Prishna has also held the position of Company Secretary for the last 30 years in a small family company. She is somewhat task-focused and can lack emotional intelligence.

Emily has personal control of senior appointments and in 2017, Emily appointed an Operations Director, Claire Woods, and promoted HH’s Marketing Manager, Daniel Boateng, to the Marketing Director. More recently, Emily has also appointed a Commercial Director, Favour Owusu, to focus on developing key alliances and to work alongside the Marketing Manager to implement the diversification strategy. The board also has 2 non-executive directors as follows:

Jane Childs is 45 and undertakes the role alongside a senior role in training and development for a national law firm. She was asked by Emily to join the board in 2019 to address a perceived skills gap in talent management. Jane is concerned about the company’s staff current staff turnover, which is high. Emily has been shocked and offended by Jane’s recent challenges at board meetings and Prishna finds Jane’s challenging approach uncomfortable.

Nicola Hughes is the most recent addition to the board. She is 55 and secured the role earlier this year after a competitive recruitment process led by Jane. She has worked in the education sector for most of her career and is keen to support diversification.

Prishna is concerned about the current dynamic of the board and has sought advice about how to address it.

QUESTIONS

Prepare a briefing note for Prishna to assess the benefits of a board evaluation. Propose and justify three objectives for the review in order to improve the board dynamic and relate their significance to the current situation at HH.

Analyze the significance of the attributes being displayed by HH’s board which may be having a negative effect on the board's effectiveness.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Briefing Note Subject Board Evaluation and Improving Board Dynamic at Helping Hands Limited HH Dear Prishna As we have discussed the board dynamic at HH has become a concern and it may be time to cond... View the full answer