Board reviews: 3 techniques to evaluate your board’s performance

Ongoing board reviews are essential to maintaining an effective and high-performing board. These evaluations provide directors with actionable insights, enabling them to address gaps, refine strategies, and enhance their contributions to the organisation. By implementing proven techniques, boards can ensure their service remains impactful and also foster a culture of continuous improvement. Whether you’re a seasoned director or new to a board, these strategies will help elevate your board’s effectiveness and impact.

Technique 1: Personal requirements

At the start of each year, sit with your chair and discuss the three or four key things you want from your next 12 months of service on your board. These could include meeting interesting people, increasing your skills in particular areas, being involved in particular aspects of the board work, becoming more engaged with the community, etc. The chair can list these down and discuss with you how these can be achieved in the next 12 months. You can then explore with the chair every 6 months how things are going in achieving these and what might need to change if you are not achieving these. Be prepared to reconsider your position on the board if you cannot achieve what is important to you.

Technique 2: Meeting requirements

At the start of each board meeting, allocate one board member to evaluate that board meeting. Allocate one question to that board member for them to focus on during the meeting, as well as contributing to the meeting. At the end of the meeting, ask for that board member's evaluation, and ask the board for any suggestions for further improvement based on the issue under discussion. Then minute both the issue discussed and the agreed improvement protocol, and build this improvement into the next meeting.

Sample questions might include:

• How well did we investigate the ramifications of risk in key discussions?
• How well did we focus on strategic implications and whether these discussions drove the vision and strategic plan forward?
• How well did we explore multiple options in each key discussion?
• How well did we investigate issues without getting distracted by detail and operational matters?
• How well did we deconstruct the financial implications of key discussions and investigate the strategic issues behind these financial implications?
• How well did we use our vision statement to help reflect on key issues and discussions?
• How well did we explore community and stakeholder points of view in key discussions?
• How obvious was it that directors had read their board papers and had prepared strategic questions and discussion points?

These are just a start. Choose one question for each board meeting, and a different director to evaluate the meeting based on that question. Evaluate, agree on improvements, minute, and implement. 

Technique 3: Personal skills audit

There are seven skills that you, as a director, can choose to develop that will add immense value to your board. Self-reflect on these points, and practice these skills in your role as director.

Skill 1: The ability to ask probing questions

The role of questions in board decision-making is often ignored or misunderstood. Questions are too often used as weapons to make a point (Why is this behind schedule? ie: This is behind schedule and it is your fault ...) or to make a statement (Why can't your team get this right? i.e. Your team is no good at this ...), or to manipulate someone to agree with your point of view (Don't you agree that this is an issue? i.e. Agree with me or you will look stupid ...). These questions both disempower and shut down strategic conversations and exploration that should be the mandate of the board to nurture. At the very most, these types of questions may elicit more information but with no strategic insight. When board members refuse to ask questions that invite curiosity, it sends a very clear message regarding their organisation's culture. Innovation and possibility are discouraged, and blame and confusion run rampant. The true role of any question is to invite curiosity, the exploration of 'What if?' and 'How else?'. This sense of curiosity is the gift that every board member can bring to their board.

Skill 2: A willingness to utilise intuition

Directors know that information and experience will only take you so far. The role of intuition has taken on more importance as directors grapple with increasing amounts of available information yet are expected to make quick decisions. Tapping into your intuition is an important skill that can be developed. Use questions to explore what your intuition is alerting you to. As all experienced directors advise, 'listen to your intuition' and look at the information provided.

Skill 3: An understanding of risk

As a director, you should ensure that risk analysis is an integrated component of the board's decision-making process. Risk is not inherently good or bad; it is more about the things that happen outside our expectations that might have an impact on our ability to achieve the strategic goals of the organisation. Risk management is the conscious awareness of all the risks involved in the organisation, the strategic advantage of these risks, and the ease with which these risks can be managed. Though risk is inherent within all business opportunities, many directors prefer to be risk averse. This can lead to missing opportunities. The very nature of business and success demands directors have a willingness to view risk as strategic advantage and potential source of innovation that can enable the organisation to undertake activities that others might not even consider. Recognise risk as opportunity, and show other directors that risk is exciting and full of potential for growth and expansion, rather than traumatic and to be avoided and protected against.

Skill 4: Automatically consider multiple scenarios

There are many strategically feasible ways of conducting any initiative or activity, so do not settle for just one option that is presented to you. Always insist on at least two or three strategically feasible options, each one having gone through a rigorous analysis (e.g. finance, risk, vision alignment, contractual implications etc.). From these options, you can then dissect and explore the assumptions behind each option and make a choice that is based on understanding multiple possible futures. One of your key questions should be 'what if?', together with a similar question 'what if that wasn't so, what would need to change?'.

Skill 5: A willingness to confront facts and mistakes

You need to have a willingness to confront facts and evidence, without taking a fixed point of view of what is right or wrong, or filtering out the information that is uncomfortable. As a director, you must create an environment where it is OK to talk about what is not working and what might need to be done about it. Constantly ask yourself and others 'What are we missing?', without assuming that you are missing something. You need to be willing to make different choices and decisions if the original does not hold up to questioning or scrutiny.

Skill 6: Personal ownership of performance targets

As a director, you must take ownership of performance targets (e.g. strategic plan success measures) for the board and organisation and insist on evidence (reports, metrics, etc.) showing those targets are being met or not met. If they are not being met, be willing to ask, 'What is not working here and what do we need to do about it?'. Insist on performance targets being encapsulated in dashboard reports, key metrics and other evidence that the agreed performance targets are being achieved.

Skill 7: Be custodian of the vision

As a director, you must both understand the nuances behind the organisation's vision statement and make sure the vision statement is being utilised in all discussions around the board table. Use the key elements of the vision as a filter for your decision-making and questions, and encourage others to use it as part of their strategic input. 

The benefits of a board evaluation template

Evaluating board performance is essential for driving continuous improvement and ensuring strategic alignment. By implementing structured techniques, such as setting personal goals, assessing meeting effectiveness, and developing key skills, boards can enhance their overall performance and decision-making.

To take your board's performance to the next level, download our free Board Evaluation Template. This comprehensive tool will help you assess key areas, identify growth opportunities, and ensure your board operates at its best.