Board Evaluation Services


ENSURING YOUR BOARD IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE

How do the markets, stakeholders and wider community perceive your Board? A role model for the organisation’s core values? Where the dynamic is one of respectful challenge and trust? A place for collective knowledge, wisdom and energy that enhances vision and transforms strategy? Or, is the Board, despite everyone’s best efforts, unknowingly limiting potential?

As board leaders are increasingly held in the accountability spotlight, whole-board effectiveness has become a critical aspect of organisational governance. Which is why as Chair, SID or Co-Sec, you need to be certain your Board not only follows regulatory and global best practice, but functions at the highest and most effective level.

BOARDS NOW NEED TO UNDERTAKE REGULAR EXTERNAL REVIEWS

In July 2018, the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) updated and published the Corporate Governance Code and its guidance on board effectiveness, recommending that:

  • Boards continually need to monitor and improve their performance
  • The evaluation should be objective, rigorous and bespoke in formulation and delivery
  • Board evaluations should inform and influence succession planning
  • Outcomes should be fed back into the Board’s work on composition and design of induction and development programmes.

The FRC concludes that external facilitation can add value by introducing a fresh perspective and new ways of thinking. The Code recommends that FTSE 350 companies hold externally facilitated board evaluations at least every three years, and chairs of smaller companies consider having them periodically.

An external evaluation may also be useful in other circumstances, including when there is a new chair, if there is a known problem requiring tactful handling, or there is an external perception that the board is – or has been – ineffective.

HOW WE WORK TOGETHER ON BOARD EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS

We specialise in public companies, large national, international and global privately-owned firms, providing them with an evaluation that is tailored to closely align with the aims of the Chair and Board.
Back in 2009, the Walker Review acknowledged that in-house board evaluations may be useful for straightforward areas of boardroom functioning such as processes, procedures and when providing behavioural feedback. But their ability to address the more contentious aspects of board effectiveness relating to people, board leadership and styles of behaviour, could be limited.

WHEN WE WORK WITH CLIENTS ON THEIR BOARD EVALUATION IT’S NEVER A ‘BOX-TICKING’ EXERCISE

In partnership with CK Coombs & Co, we get under the skin of what’s really happening across all the Board’s workings and communications. We bring expert leadership insight and strategic risk governance to your bespoke external evaluation and board development programme.

  • Interview – all Board members, as well as, selected advisors who support the Board in its activities
  • Observe – the Board and its Committees in situ, at least once, preceded by a full review of board papers, key outputs and outcomes
  • Survey – using an anonymous web-based tool to provide 1:1 360° feedback
  • Benchmark – against best board and director practice, guided by regulators, sector specialists and best-in-class organisations
  • Feedback – findings on the Board’s workings along with recommendations to each director on their strengths and where their contribution could be improved
  • Facilitate – an offsite meeting for key conversations on the Board’s and Directors’ development, based on a full report of our methodology, analysis and findings.

To learn more about how we can help with your next board evaluation, please contact us.