Boards mostly to blame when an executive appointment doesn’t work out

ABC staff are demanding Justine Milne’s head. .

I was the deputy chair of the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1999 to 2005.

In that time, a new managing director, Jonathan Shier, was ­appointed and sacked.

His exit was handled swiftly and professionally.

In my opinion — and this is not just formed from my experience on the ABC board but on a number of other company boards — it is mainly the fault of the board when the appointment of a managing ­director doesn’t work out.

A combination of wrong candidate and unrealistic expect­ations on the part of the board often lead to an early parting of the ways.

Let’s be clear: one person can never run a large organisation such as the ABC. The one person at the top will have strengths and ­weaknesses, interests and blank spots. The key is to assemble a senior executive team with complementary skills and interests.

This is a weakness of the ABC: the managing director basically ­inherits a senior executive team and whether or not the skills are suitable and balanced is a hit-or-miss affair.

Let’s be clear on another matter: it is not the role of the board to micromanage the corporation, to order up or cancel particular programs or to demand the appointment or dismissal of particular staff members.

To be sure, it is completely ­appropriate for board members to seek reporting on programming strategy or the attainment of specified journalistic standards. After all, the ABC board must meet its obligations under the legislation.

A good relationship with the government can be a plus, but this must always be at arm’s length.

That the ABC has had to endure some funding cuts was entirely predictable — after all, other government departments have had to adjust to ongoing efficiency dividends.

The challenge is to respond to these budget constraints and to focus on what is most important. In contrast with the funding cuts that mainstream private media have seen, the situation at the ABC has been relatively benign.

Looking back at my time on the board, the abiding ­conclusion I reached is that the ABC has strengths and weaknesses.

The greatest threat is to allow the organisation to operate as a workers’ collective with little ­regard for the audiences it serves around Australia.

The hope is that the new managing director will focus on providing trustworthy and varied output and the board understands its role in ­supporting the organisation and the MD.

Judith Sloan was on the ABC Board between 1999-2004.