Board Self-Assessment is a single of the most important leadership practices that well-performing nonprofit boards employ to ensure long-term governance excellence. It requires the board to take a break from their day-to-day activities and evaluate its effectiveness. This allows the board members to resolve issues that could otherwise cause tension and frustration.
There are many ways to conduct a self-assessment on a board, from surveys and sites novalauncherprime.pro/corporate-communications-policy-importance/ interviews to facilitated discussions. The best method will depend on the size of your board, the resources available and how much depth you’d like to add to the assessment.
If you choose to conduct the assessment be sure to establish the objectives of the evaluation. For example, do you intend to improve governance, match governance with organizational goals or improve accountability? After you have decided on this, you can choose an evaluation tool.
Some tools allow you to analyze your results against other hospitals or health systems, while others are focused solely on the governance policies of your organization. No matter what you choose, it’s important that any tools used are unbiased and do not call out specific directors. This will create a secure environment for honest feedback.
A lot of boards employ a peer-review procedure, which requires directors to rate each other. This can be a useful and efficient process, however it is essential that the process stays private. It isn’t easy for directors to be critical of another director if they fear it will be retaliated against them. In this situation, it’s often better to have the facilitator review all of the responses and decide what information is relevant to discuss with the board.