Board Self-Assessment offers a means to analyze and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of governance. The board can use it to look at its own performance and assess its own effectiveness. This will lead to better governance.
Time and planning, as well as the engagement of board members are required in order to establish a reliable board evaluation process. The first step in determining the scope is to determine who will be the target audience for the assessment. This could be the whole board, specific committees and/or directors webpage about corporate communications policy importance individually. A good plan will also determine the evaluation method. Interviews, surveys or facilitated discussions are typical methods. Once the scope and evaluation method are established, it’s time to start designing and distributing questionnaires.
Some boards decide to conduct the assessment in-house and some choose to hire an outside consultant. A third party consultant can help ensure an objective and thorough analysis, which is vital if you don’t have the time or resources necessary to conduct the test yourself.
It is crucial that board members evaluate themselves. However it is equally crucial that nonprofit boards pay attention to the whole. It is easy for board members of nonprofit organizations and their facilitators to become focused on evaluating individual actions and not pay attention to the board as a unit.
A successful self-assessment is able to help boards clarify expectations, reveal deficiencies in the composition of the board, align board knowledge with organizational strategy, address concerns from investors regarding diversity and turnover and enhance the effectiveness of board procedures and practices. A growing number of public companies are disclosing the outcomes of their board’s assessments in their proxy statements.