Self-assessment of board members is a vital management practice that top-performing boards employ to ensure long-term governance. It requires board members to step back and honestly evaluate their performance. This allows the board members to resolve issues that might otherwise cause frustration and conflict.
There are a variety of ways to conduct a self-assessment on your board including interviews and image source novalauncherprime.pro/availability-with-board-meeting-software-reviews/ surveys to facilitated discussions. The best approach will depend on the size of your board, the resources you have available and the depth you’d like to go into the assessment.
If you decide to go with the method, be sure to define the objectives of the assessment. Do you wish to improve accountability or improve governance? Or match governance with organizational objectives? After you have decided on this, you are able to select an evaluation tool.
Some tools allow you to compare your results with other health systems and hospitals, while others focus solely on your organization’s governance policies. Whatever you choose it is essential that the tools are impartial and don’t call out director individuals. This will create a secure environment for honest feedback.
Many boards utilize a peer-review process, which asks directors to rate each one another. This can be a productive and beneficial procedure, but it’s 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 scenario it’s generally better to have the facilitator look over all of the responses and decide what insights are pertinent to share with the board.