When the board conducts a review of directors, it is crucial to conduct it well. The process must be clear and timely and also assist the board understand its strengths and weaknesses so that it can improve the performance of the company.
It is often difficult to assess the performance of each director. The chair’s performance on the board has a great influence on the other directors. It can be difficult to compare boards because of differences in strategy the company’s cycle, as well as director refreshment policies.
The way a director board review is conducted could influence the authenticity of the feedback. Some evaluations are relatively informal – merely presenting the opinions of other directors. However, others are more formal such as interviews with other directors as well as the SID or CEO, committee chairs, as well as the Company Secretary. The evaluation could include observations made by the Chairman at board meetings – examining factors like the degree of participation information sharing, the level of inclusion, and the hints identifying customer needs sharing of discussions.
It is often advantageous to hire an experienced facilitator from outside to conduct these reviews. Their neutrality can provide more rigor and unbiasedness to the process. The key is to start the process by defining the objectives for the review and defining its scope. The next step is to develop a plan on how to evaluate the board, and to collect insights from stakeholders. This could include distribution of questionnaires or interviews, document reviews, and/or the use of software for managing board meetings to facilitate data collection.