Board self-assessment is a key management practice that top-performing boards make use of to ensure long-term oversight. It requires the board members to take a step back and reflect on their effectiveness. This lets the board be proactive and take on areas that could otherwise become major sources of discontent and friction.
There are many ways to conduct a board self-assessment including interviews and surveys to guided discussions. The best method will depend on the size of your board, the resources you have available and the depth you want to get into the assessment.
Once you have decided on the method, be sure you are clear about what you hope to accomplish through the evaluation. For example, do you intend to improve governance, align governance to organizational goals, or increase accountability? Once you’ve decided this, you can pick an evaluation tool.
Certain tools allow you to analyze your results against other health systems or hospitals and others focus solely on the governance policies of your company. It’s crucial to ensure that the tools you choose are unbiased and don’t pick out only directors. This will provide a safe environment for honest feedback.
Many boards use a peer-review procedure, which requires directors to review each other. This can be a productive and beneficial process, however it is vital that the process is secret. It isn’t easy for some directors to critique another director if they fear they’ll be accused of it back at them. In this situation it is typically better to let the facilitator review the responses to determine which information is relevant to share with the board.
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