Board Evaluation Services

We provide an independent external assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your board, committees, directors and trustees.

Board evaluations are also referred to as board effectiveness reviews and board appraisals.

The board is ultimately responsible for the control and running of the company and governance of the business flows from the top down through the organisation. Monitoring board effectiveness is, therefore, an important part of good corporate governance.

The UK Corporate Governance Code states that: “A successful company is led by an effective and entrepreneurial board ….”. It also says that:

“There should be a formal and rigorous annual evaluation of the performance of the board, its committees, the chair and individual directors. The chair should consider having a regular externally facilitated board evaluation. In FTSE 350 companies this should happen at least every three years.”

It is good practice to have an external review of the board at least every three years. An independent company secretary can carry out board evaluations in intervening years. Independent reviews are far more effective.

The Board should be able to work effectively together. Their working relationships with each other should be good but there are times when, maybe due to external pressures or over enthusiasm, there can be destructive clashes. (In these situations, mediation and facilitation tools may also be used – please see the details of our services in these areas). Alternatively, the Chair may be too domineering for the rest of the Board, or not strong enough, or the Non-Executive Directors may not be challenging the Executive Directors enough.

An annual Board Review can:

• Provide a check on progress against the organisation’s mission and objectives;
• Provide accountability to members, shareholders or key stakeholders;
• Highlight the Board’s achievements;
• Identify areas for Board improvement;
• Set a lead for the organisation in Performance Evaluation and continuous improvement;
• Provide benchmarks for measuring Board Performance in the coming year; and
• Enable more effective group dynamics within the Boardroom.

We carry out evaluations using a mixture of confidential interviews and/or confidential questionnaires, director self-appraisals, and attendance at chosen meetings to gain a view of the style and running of the meetings, the behaviour of attendees and the overall effectiveness of the meetings.

The approach to each board evaluation is agreed with the chair and tailored in accordance with the needs of the company concerned.

Please contact us if you are ready for an external board evaluation.