Conduct a board review to get an overview of your board's health

It’s often easier for someone to see the ‘obvious’ when looking from an external point of view. That’s why the common practice for a board review is to conduct a two or three yearly independent externally facilitated board assessment. This works in hand by subsequent annual internal reviews that focus on the extent of improvements achieved in relation to the key findings by the independently facilitated external review.

The external review will normally involve the following steps conducted by a Board Advisory Partner or similarly qualified professional:

• Directors, and executives that regularly attend board meetings, complete a validated, benchmarked Board Effectiveness Survey
• The Board Advisory Partner synthesises the results of the surveys into the three to five main areas for improvement and writes a detailed report setting out their findings and recommendations
• The Chair is debriefed separately on the results of the benchmarked survey and the findings and recommendations included in the report, prior to a similar debrief of the whole board
• Depending upon the findings and recommendations, subsequent workshops or action planning sessions might be organised to assist the board understand the hot spots and agree upon the improvement initiatives that will be put in place.