Q: Can we use our board portal to assist us with our board evaluation process?
A: Most organisations have reviews in which board members are asked to rate their individual performance as well as the perceived effectiveness of the entire board. Many companies also undertake periodic governance reviews, which are basically objective assessments of how their board complies with its legal, regulatory and fiduciary responsibilities. These reviews help organisations develop best board practices.
Whether it’s a formal or an informal process, gathering input is key to establishing the viewpoints of stakeholders. Company leadership teams and boards often need structured input to make better decisions. Some board portals come with interactive survey functionality. Being directly integrated into the board portal makes polling and building consensus easy, effective and secure, and is perfectly suited for online board evaluations.
Due to the busy schedules that board members endure, your board portal should have a simple and intuitive interface that makes surveys simple to create, engaging to fill out and informative to analyse.
Some of the benefits of the survey function may include:
• Respondents can easily access and complete surveys, as well as save in-progress surveys on their laptop or iPad.
• Questions include a variety of response formats, including yes/no, multiple choice, open answers and Likert Scale (a psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaire tests).
• Responses can be set to be private or anonymous.
• Directors can be given the option to add comments.
For board members who travel often, being able to complete a questionnaire while offline and over multiple sessions is a major draw. Many board portals have seamless online-offline functionality and this feature helps directors work their way through lengthy surveys, even with an unreliable internet connection. The questionnaire and responses automatically sync for any updates, so users don’t lose work, even if they lose their Wi-Fi connection.
Erin Ruck, Regional Director BoardVantage
Tel: 2108 4600 eruck@boardvantage.com www.boardvantage.com
