Furr Resources, Inc. was founded by noted organizational consultants, Richard and Lana Furr, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Its purpose is to support organizations in optimizing performance through the assessment, development, and alignment of the board of directors, executive talent and the organization’s efforts as a whole.

Furr Resources’ approach, based on extensive research into high performance practices, is to help organizations measure the gap between their practices and those of organizations who have sustained high performance over time; then, to develop a gameplan, the strategy and skills for closing the gap.

Developing High Performance through Board Development Services . . .

Board attention has been focused almost completely on compliance with Sarbanes Oxley lately. Furr Resources focuses on how boards can adopt practices to make a positive difference for the performance of the organization. Furr has researched the best practices of effective boards of directors and their leadership and integrated those into several services not commonly offered by attorneys or accountants. Each service is customized, not boilerplate, and results in needed movement on the part of the board.

• The Board and Director Best Practices Update is a two-hour presentation designed to keep your board up-to-date on the practices that lead to high performance. Based on extensive and ongoing research, experience and pragmatic observation, your board will be able to quickly and easily learn what other boards and directors do – AND what they avoid. Great value for a two-hour investment.

• The Board of Directors Development Review Process evaluates the effectiveness of the governance processes of the board as a whole. Typically initiated by governance or executive committees of the board or by the Chairman or CEO, the process can be tailored to the organization's own criteria. The feedback becomes the foundation and motivation for goal setting and development.

• Individual Director Development Review Process is increasingly used as a tool for attracting the best and brightest director talent to an organization. The feedback from this process can be managed in several ways, and the implementation of this process can be spread over time in order to build commitment to its value. 80% of directors surveyed believe that individual directors should be evaluated.

• Chairman Review Process is a new service offered to the leadership of the most progressive boards who want to ensure effective leadership for the board now and in the future. This review process helps boards become more aware what is needed to lead their board effectively and to begin to plan for developing future board leadership in a deliberate and thoughtful way.

• CEO Appraisal is the process most widely implemented, and unfortunately, is usually done in a way that has minimal impact. It is sometimes a cursory process, done by a few people, using a few financial or even arbitrarily selected criteria, with no feedback or developmental process. Furr works with the organization to incorporate feedback and development into process in order to get the best return from the investment in CEO talent and compensation.

• Executive Appraisal is a logical addition to the above service since many directors worry about their organization's succession management procedures. Using the same criteria that are developed for the CEO, Furr Resources conducts an appraisal, complete with feedback and development opportunity planning, to assure shareholders of attention to the talent and bench strength needed for the future.

• The Board Retreat is a planned developmental experience for boards during which the board receives the reports from their development review processes. Furr Resources facilitates the board’s discussions about their results and sets up processes for the board to set development goals resulting from reviewing their feedback and small group discussions. The result will be tremendous progress in how the board accomplishes its work and major steps toward improving governance of the organization.

• Strategic Planning Facilitation is a strength of Furr Resources. Furr focuses on helping boards think strategically and creatively first, so that the process does not degenerate into mere routine business planning and the outcome will not result in a “me too” approach to the organizations’ marketplace. Guided by provocative questions, the board can more easily discern innovative opportunities, do a reality check on the proposed strategic intent and vision and devise meaningful differentiation for the organization.

• The Board-Management Alignment Retreat is an opportunity customized to your situation to ensure that your board and management team have the same understanding of their relative roles and the boundaries between them, the same expectations of each other in their efforts on behalf of the organization, the same vision and understanding of long-term and short-term strategy and culture for the organization, and a healthy, open process for working together. Furr’s experience allows you to develop this joint working plan for how you create the future of the organization in a unified way without any unintended consequences or unpleasant surprises.

• Board Education Retreats can be beneficial whether you have a new board, new members or simply want to revisit some basics of good boards, Furr Resources can customize and facilitate a session to meet your needs. Review the role of the board, refocus your board to function at a more strategic level, clarify the boundary between the board and management, improve your meetings and agendas, or the way your board works together.

• Written Governance Policy provides a roadmap for boards to follow to ensure that they operate in ways in which they intend and that their practices are consistent over time. Furr works with the board to establish the policy areas the board would like to cover, discusses multiple options with the board about how other progressive organizations approach those areas, and then writes the governance policy.

• Establishing Director Recruiting Competencies is a process that Furr can facilitate with the board in order to ensure that the next director(s) recruited bring the competency sets to the table most needed, based on the strategy and culture of the organization. Furr works with management and the board to discern the competencies most likely to need consideration, then provides the process for the board to reach an agreed- upon collective profile of the next candidate(s).

Incorporating More Emotional Intelligence into Leadership . . .

Leadership is not something you have or don't have; it is something you do or don't do. That is, leadership involves knowledge, skills, and emotional intelligence, which can be learned, developed, and refined to reach higher levels of effectiveness.

Effective leaders are powerful in part because they manage themselves emotionally better than those who are less effective. Their personal behavior and their skills enlist, engage, guide, and support others in accompanying important goals. Furr Resources helps leaders develop the emotional intelligence and skills required for higher performance.

• Leadership Awareness Workshop (LAW) is a two-day in-house program for frontline managers to mid-management leaders. It offers extensive feedback through six inventories, including 360-degree feedback, and allows participants to learn more effective leadership actions through simulations and experiential processes.

• Leadership Impact Studies and Executive Coaching are two resources executives use to better understand and manage their effectiveness. The two-day Leadership Impact Study uses a skilled interviewer to gather rich, detailed feedback about an executive's leadership style from key superiors, direct reports, and peers and to develop a plan for enhanced effectiveness. Executive Coaching offers periodic, objective support through one-on-one coaching sessions with a Furr Resources’ professional.