Are you in charge of organizing your company’s next board evaluation? Here’s a brief description of each method, followed by our tips below.
Self-assessment
- The board evaluates itself, normally initiated by the Chair with practical help from the company secretary, legal counsel, or Nomination Committee
- Can be in the format of a (paper- or online) questionnaire and / or in the format of the Chair carrying out a mini-interview of each board member as well the CEO, CFO, and other key leaders
- Some use both questionnaire and interviews, others use only one of the methods
- Typically done annually
External evaluation
- External partner sets up and carries out this third-party evaluation
- Should consists of individual in-depth interviews and ideally be combined with an online questionnaire
- Usually also includes several special analyses such as those listed below
- Usually includes a workshop or set of workshops run by the external partner, interpreting the results and giving concrete feedback and suggestions for improvement
- Typically conducted at least every 3 years
Self-assessment
External evaluation
- The board evaluates itself, normally initiated by the Chair with practical help from the company secretary, legal counsel, or Nomination Committee
- Can be in the format of a (paper- or online) questionnaire and / or in the format of the Chair carrying out a mini-interview of each board member as well the CEO, CFO, and other key leaders
- Some use both questionnaire and interviews, others use only one of the methods
- Typically done annually
- External partner sets up and carries out this third-party evaluation
- Should consists of individual in-depth interviews and ideally be combined with an online questionnaire
- Usually also includes several special analyses such as those listed below
- Usually includes a workshop or set of workshops run by the external partner, interpreting the results and giving concrete feedback and suggestions for improvement
- Typically conducted at least every 3 years
Below you can read or download our tips on the differences, pros and cons of self-assessment vs external evaluation.
