How to Conduct a Board Self-Assessment

Self-assessment by the board is an essential management practice that top-performing boards utilize to ensure their long-term governance. It requires the board to take a break from the day-today routine and evaluate its effectiveness. This allows the board members to tackle issues that could otherwise lead to friction and anger.

There are a myriad of ways to conduct a self-assessment on an entire board, from surveys and interviews to facilitated discussion. The best method will depend on the size of your board, the resources you have available and how much depth you’d like to go into the assessment.

If you decide to go with the method be sure to establish your objectives for the assessment. Do you want to improve accountability, improve governance, or align the governance of your organization with its goals? Once you’ve determined this, you can select an evaluation tool.

Certain tools allow you to evaluate your results against other hospitals or health systems and others focus exclusively on the governance practices of your company. No matter what you choose it is essential that the tools used are impartial and don’t make any mention of individual directors. This will create a safe environment for honest feedback.

A lot of boards employ a peer-review procedure, which requires directors to review each other. This can be a beneficial https://novalauncherprime.pro/best-data-room-platforms-reviews-and-ratings/ and effective exercise, however, it’s vital that the process remains confidential. It can be difficult for some directors to critique someone else’s decision if they worry that they’ll be accused of it back at them. In this instance it is usually better to let the facilitator read the responses to determine what information is relevant to share with the board.