Five Questions All Boards Should Ask

  Susan Mogensen        November 8, 2010

If your board of directors wants to evaluate its own performance, start by setting aside time on the next board meeting agenda for reflection on these five questions:

1. Does everyone around the board table answer this question the same way: on whose behalf are we legally and/or morally accountable?
2. Do we have a regular way of engaging with our legal/moral ownership that includes listening to them as owners (rather than as customers or other stakeholders)?
3. Do we have a clear and transparent process for translating ownership input into direction that is delegated to our CEO/Executive Director?
4. Can we show that all authority our CEO/Executive Director is using has originated from direction (at some level) set out by the board as a whole?
5. Do we have an evidence-based way to show our owners that this organization is achieving what it should and avoiding what is unacceptable, further to their input?

See also: Policy Governance: Six Benefits over the ‘Traditional’ Approach