High-Performance Board Assessment

Practice participative leadership: Your board is not personality driven, the chair draws on all members of the board – not just those he/she knows best or who speak the loudest.

Shared responsibility: There is full engagement of all directors – not just those with a specific expertise, a loud “voice” or position in the “family?” No directors carry more of the burden than others.

Aligned with purpose: Your board acts in the best interest of the organization – individual directors do not act in their own self-interest.

High levels of communication: There is open, transparent, full disclosure, no confidentiality breaches or undeclared conflicts of interest, and everyone has access to the same information. Your management team knows what the board’s reporting expectations are.

Focused on the tasks of the board and the results of the organization: Your board is focused on the strategic governance work of the board, respects the board/management line, and readily moves beyond the task to results.

Oriented toward the future: Your board makes strategic decisions by integrating lessons learned from historical facts, present realities, and reasoned projections.

Use of diverse and creative talents: There is a deep respect for the background, skills, experience and attributes of all directors and management team along with a communal desire for innovation.

Rapid response to organizational needs: Your board is highly attentive to policy, risk oversight, best practice, and performance measures so they are able to respond rapidly when called on.

Healthy risk appetite: Your board has a risk appetite suitable for the organization and the sector it is in—it decides on opportunities in a calculated and measured way, while at the same time acting with courage, wisdom, and common sense.

Comfortable with dissent: Your board maintains solidarity while being comfortable with dissenting voices, challenging assumptions and building consensus.