The board of directors should be able understand their responsibilities, define and evaluate risk, and build an environment that encourages value creation. To accomplish this, boards need to be effective, but too many are evaluated in the past tense–after there is a problem.
The best boards don’t focus on compliance and reports but rather collaborate with management to ensure performance and determine the future. To achieve this they are reviewing their governance structures and procedures. To accomplish this they are conducting thorough assessments to determine their current level of effectiveness.
These assessments often uncover a myriad of issues and obstacles that range from a few operational complaints that can be addressed regarding meeting length or yourdataroom.org/streamlining-due-diligence-with-data-room-software/ agenda composition to thornier challenges like the effectiveness of the board’s involvement in strategic decision-making as well as gaps in knowledge or competence, and executive and director succession planning. These evaluations typically consist of composed of self-evaluations from directors and the whole board, and third-party facilitation.
The most successful evaluations, whether conducted by the board or by independent consultants chosen for their neutral expertise and perspective are holistic and cover all aspects of a successful board structure, its processes and the people. They also include one-onone interviews with directors to elicit important, precise candid and sensitive feedback that cannot be captured by questionnaires alone. Additionally, they take the form of practical recommendations that directors are required to implement within a reasonable period of time.