Self-assessment of board members is a vital practice of leadership that top-performing boards employ to ensure long-term governance. It requires board members to take a look back and honestly examine their effectiveness. This allows the board members to resolve issues that could otherwise cause friction and anger.
There are many ways to conduct a board self-assessment from surveys and interviews to discussion groups that are facilitated. The best approach will depend on the size of your board, the resources available and the amount of depth you want to get into the assessment.
If you decide to go with the method be sure to establish the objectives of the assessment. For instance, do you desire to improve governance, match governance to organizational goals, or enhance accountability? Once this is determined you can then select an evaluation tool.
Certain tools let you analyze your results against other health care facilities and hospitals, while others focus solely on your organization’s governance policies. No matter what you choose it is crucial that the tools you use are impartial and don’t make any mention of the individual directors. This will help create a safe environment for honest feedback.
Many boards also use peer review processes that allows board members to review their peers as directors. This can be a valuable and effective exercise, however, it’s vital that the process remains confidential. It can be difficult for some directors to criticize an individual director when they are afraid that it will be retaliated against them. In this scenario, it is often better to let the facilitator review the responses to determine which insights are important to share with the board.