Board Self-Assessment is a method for analyzing and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of governance. It is a way for the board to take a step back and examine its own effectiveness, which will lead to improved governance.
Planning, time and engagement of board members are necessary for a successful board evaluation process. The first step in determining the scope of the evaluation is to identify the audience for the assessment. This could include the entire board, a specific committee, or a specific director. A good plan will specify the method of evaluation. Interviews, surveys or facilitated discussion are common methodologies. Once the scope and evaluation method are decided, it’s time to begin creating and distribution of questionnaires.
Some boards webpage about corporate communications policy importance choose to conduct the evaluation on their own while others enlist an outside consultant. A third party consultant can help ensure an impartial and thorough analysis, which is important in the event that you don’t have the time or resources necessary to do the evaluation yourself.
It is important that board members review themselves. However it is also crucial that nonprofit boards concentrate on the whole. It is easy for nonprofit board members and their facilitators to become engrossed in evaluating individual responses and forget the board as a unit.
A successful self-assessment is able to help boards clarify expectations, discover gaps in the composition of the board and align knowledge of the board with organizational strategy, address concerns from investors regarding turnover and diversity and improve board procedures and practices. A growing number of public companies are releasing results of their board evaluations in their proxy statements.