CORE ESSENTIALS

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A Short Apologetic for Board Self-assessment

Essential 2: The board takes responsibility for its readiness to govern well.

There’s an odd psychology to board self-assessment. While board members hope for a favorable report – preferably more praise than criticism – there’s a tendency for some to grumble around the board table about wasted time and money wasted on happy talk.

The truth is that high-performing boards extract significant insights from assessments and ineffective boards resist, deny, and learn little from evaluations. Unsurprisingly, effective boards tend to improve while less effective boards generally remain stagnant. The takeaway: don’t give naysayers and negative thinkers the floor.

Wise stewards respect the power of self-assessment in shaping how a board forms, uses its time, works with the president, and how the board, administration, and faculty collaborate on critical institutional issues. They’ve experienced first-hand that identifying and managing weaknesses positions a board to navigate unforeseen challenges and emerging opportunities. Wise stewards participate in self-assessment with honesty and sincerity and receive the findings – the affirming and the critical – with curiosity and an eagerness for improvement.

Writing in Trusteeship Magazine, long-time college president Ted Long identifies six ways self-assessment contributes to greater board effectiveness. These are:

• It provides greater clarity about the board’s primary roles and responsibilities.
• It evokes a greater appreciation for board strengths and achievements.
• It creates an impetus for strengthening board effectiveness over time.
• It clarifies and solidifies board aspirations and intentions about its practice.
• It fosters greater alignment between board work and institutional challenges.
• It promotes greater fiduciary and strategic effectiveness.
   

And then there’s this from the chair of a theological school board: “The opportunity to engage in board self-assessment helped us see where the board is adding real value to the institution and also aspects of our roles and responsibilities where we can and must do better.”

May your board find the same value in its self-assessment.

Questions to Ask the Board

• Why do some board members resist when self-assessment uncovers problems/weaknesses in the board’s performance? (Investigative)
• How can a board best prepare to maximize the learnings gleaned from the board self-assessment process? (Speculative)
• What have we learned about ourselves as a board from our response to and application of the self-assessment findings, both the positive and the challenging?  (Interpretive)