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Acing Tricky Board Meetings
TL;DR
A board deck surfaces late, highlighting “talent risks” the board is seeing for the first time. Kelly realizes the issue isn’t the data - it’s that the board feels surprised. As she scrambles to reconstruct context and prevent HR from being perceived as reactive, she’s forced to confront a quiet truth: the Board might already be prejudiced against HR. Was she going to fight a losing battle?
The Situation
The email came in at 6:11 p.m., just as Kelly was shutting down for the night.
From: Daniel Mercer
Subject: Prep for Tomorrow
No greeting. No context. Attached was a board deck she hadn’t seen before.
Kelly opened it standing up, bag still on her shoulder. Slide one, metrics. Slide two, revenue outlook. Slide three, headcount efficiency. Slide four stopped her.
Talent Risks.
Attrition projections. Engagement dips. Critical role dependencies. Nothing inaccurate. Nothing new. But in the margin, a comment from a Board Member sat like a bruise.
“Why are we hearing about this now? What was your HR doing all this while?”
A sharp burst of anger made its way up to Kelly’s temple. She forced herself to close her eyes and breathe slowly and intentionally for about two minutes. Then she read it again.
She knew the board member who’d written it. Precise. Calm. Not prone to drama. When they asked timing questions, it meant they were already reconstructing a story in their heads.
Her phone buzzed.
Daniel: Can you walk me through this before tomorrow?
Kelly closed her laptop and sat back down - of course.
The Spiral
Daniel didn’t waste time. “This deck makes it sound like we’re behind,” he said. “The board doesn’t like surprises.”
Kelly kept her voice neutral. “None of this surfaced overnight. We’ve been tracking the signals since the RTO cycle. And I’ve been sharing it with you every single week.”
“So why is this the first time they’re seeing it?”
“How am I supposed to answer that?! Aren’t you and Lena in charge of creating the board deck? Why am I only consulted when things are going wrong?!” Kelly wanted to scream.
Instead she took a measured pause and replied “Because you have never actually asked me to prepare the board deck ever. It’s usually you and Lena in charge of this.”
She added carefully, “Also, we don’t have a defined escalation threshold for talent risk. We review it operationally. We haven’t aligned on when it becomes board-level.”
“So how did this reach the Board Deck this time?”
“I put it there.” Lena was standing at the door. “This is not on Kelly, but I had to take a call if we show them these risks later or in Q1. I decided on Q1.”
“And you didn’t think I needed to know about it?” Daniel was fuming.
Lena looked at Daniel firmly “Did you read the pre-read I shared with you on Monday?”
Kelly could swear that things were about to turn ugly very quickly if she did not intervene.
The Pivot
“Okay, both of you, take a breather now. Lena, do you want to grab a cup of coffee with me?” Kelly knew that she had to give them both time and space in order to have a constructive discussion.
“How do I always end up being the babysitter?” Kelly wondered to herself while walking back with Lena, with a cup of coffee in her hand.
The 5 minute break worked - Daniel was much calmer and wanted to solve this issue instead of assigning blame.
“Okay” Kelly started, “They’re not asking what the risk is. They’re asking why they’re hearing it now.”
“We reconstruct the timeline. Calmly. Factually. And we make it clear HR has been flagging this in the right forums. If there was a gap, it’s process. Not negligence.”
“And if they think we should’ve escalated sooner?”
“Then we own that conversation together,” she said. “But HR doesn’t take the fall for governance ambiguity.”
The Reframe
That night, Kelly rebuilt three slides.
When signals first appeared.
Where they were discussed.
What actions were taken, and why they didn’t rise to board-level risk at the time.
She added one final slide at the end.
Escalation Principles Going Forward
Not dramatic or defensive. Just transparent and clear.
What gets surfaced to the board.
What stays operational.
Who decides, and when.
She also wrote a suggested script for Daniel and sent the revised deck at 11:18 p.m.
He replied ten minutes later - This helps. Thank you. Do you want to be a part of the Board Meeting?
Kelly closed her laptop without answering. She knew by now that Daniel’s questions were not really questions - they were instructions framed as questions.
The Board Meeting
Friday morning, the board session moved faster than usual.
When they reached Talent Risks, Daniel paused.
“Before we get into this,” he said, “I want to clarify context.”
Kelly watched the faces around the table shift from curiosity to attention.
“These are not new signals. HR has been tracking and addressing them operationally. What’s new is that we’re formalizing how and when these trends get surfaced here.”
A board member leaned forward. “So why now?”
Kelly spoke before Daniel could.
“Because the organization has changed,” she said evenly. “More reorg velocity. Tighter labor markets. The same signals now carry different weight with our major launch being fast-tracked to Q2.”
“And I have ensured, in alignment with Daniel and Lena, that this shouldn’t be highlighted as a surprise to the Board - going forward, we will have a dedicated slide to discuss about Talent.”
“Thanks, Kelly. I was about to ask for one - thanks for being proactive” the same Board Member mentioned who had written the comment.
The Aftermath
Back in her office, Kelly sat quietly for a few minutes before opening her inbox.
Maya knocked lightly. “How bad was it?”
“Not bad,” Kelly said. “But it could’ve been. It actually went off pretty well to be honest.”
“How did you make that happen?” Maya was genuinely curious
“I just anticipated what they needed before they could ask me.” Kelly for once sounded pleased with herself.
The Pattern
Boards don’t punish bad news; they punish surprise.
HR risk isn’t about predicting the future perfectly.
It’s about deciding, in advance, what deserves daylight and what belongs in the engine room.
When escalation rules are vague, credibility becomes personal.
And personal credibility is a terrible governance model.
Kelly Recommends
Most HR teams track risk signals. Fewer have explicit escalation frameworks that survive leadership change, reorgs, and new boards.
The HR leaders we speak to emphasize one thing consistently:
Risk isn’t about data availability. It’s about shared expectations on when silence becomes exposure.
Define that line early.
Write it down.
Revisit it before the board asks for it.
Just When Things Were Settling Down…
Later that afternoon, Kelly received yet another calendar invite she hadn’t expected.
Subject: Concerns regarding lack of AI adoption
Attendees: All C-Suite
“Kelly, good work today in the Board Meeting. But I have major concerns regarding how we are not using AI at all in the company. Let’s discuss it together.” - Daniel
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