Board Self-Assessment is among the key leadership habits that top-performing boards of nonprofits employ to ensure that they have a long-term, effective governance. It requires board members to step back and assess their effectiveness. This allows the board to actively take on areas that could otherwise be major sources of frustration and friction.
There are a variety of ways to conduct a self-assessment for a board, from interviews and surveys to facilitated discussion. The best method will depend on the size of your board, the resources available and the level of detail you want to get into the assessment.
If you choose the method you want to use, make sure to clearly state what you plan to accomplish through the assessment. Do you want to increase accountability or improve governance? Or align the governance of your organization with its goals? Once you have decided you can then select an evaluation tool.
Some tools let you examine your results in comparison to other hospitals or health care systems while others focus solely on the governance policies of your organization. It’s crucial to ensure that the tools you select are unbiased and don’t pick out only directors. This creates an environment where honest feedback can be given.
Many boards also employ the peer review process, which asks board members to evaluate their colleagues as directors. This is a useful and efficient process, but it is important that the process remain confidential. Some directors may be hesitant to criticize a member of the board for fear of negative consequences. In this case it is generally better to let the facilitator look over the responses to determine which insights are relevant to share with the board.