How to Conduct a Board Self-Assessment

Self-assessment of the board is a crucial management practice that top-performing boards employ to ensure long-term governance. It requires the board to step back from day-to-day business and candidly evaluate its effectiveness. This allows board members to tackle issues that might otherwise cause friction and anger.

There are Board Self Evaluation a variety of ways to conduct a board self-assessment, from surveys and interviews to discussion groups that are facilitated. The best method will depend on the size of your board, the resources available and the level of detail you’d like to go into the assessment.

If you choose the method, make sure you clearly define what you want to accomplish through the assessment. For instance, do you intend to improve governance, align governance with organizational goals or increase accountability? Once you’ve decided this, you are able to select an evaluation tool.

Some tools allow you to compare your results with other health care facilities and hospitals while others focus on your organization’s governance policies. Whatever you decide to use it is essential that the tools you use are impartial and do not make any calls to the individual directors. This will create an environment where honest feedback is possible to be given.

A lot of boards also have the peer review process, which allows board members to review their fellow directors. This can be an effective and productive activity, but it’s essential that the process remains private. It can be difficult for some directors to criticize an individual director when they are afraid that it will be blamed on them. In this scenario it’s best to have the facilitator go through all of the responses and determine what insights are relevant to communicate to the board.