Board Evaluation and Effectiveness

Evaluating the effectiveness of a Board measures how well it is undertaking its role, responsibilities and legal obligations, and should provide constructive recommendations that help improve its overall effectiveness. It is important that the governance, operation of the board, strategy oversight and risk management are effective. 

Asesoria Group has been undertaking board evaluations through its Practice – Board Insight Limited for over 15 years.  Within our methodology we utilise a range of interventions (one-on-one interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, workshops, documentation reviews and board and committee observations) to provide triangulated evidence. These outputs enable us to deliver a comprehensive, transparent and robust evaluation.

Our clients cover a range of sectors, including the listed, private, not for profit and public sector, each with their unique needs. Our Board and Governance work and approach is shaped by the FRC’s UK Corporate Governance Code; the FRC’s Board Effectiveness Guidance; Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments – Code of best practice; the Charity Governance Code, as well as other codes and areas of best practice. 

Following our board evaluations, Asesoria delivers a report with our findings, observations and prioritised recommendations to optimise the effectiveness of your board processes and performance. It is clearly up to the Board to decide which of the recommendations they wish to take forward and build into an action plan for the forthcoming year and the timescales and accountabilities for carrying this out.  

We are always happy to support the Board and the secretariat to agree the best way to address these improvement areas. We recommend that progress is reviewed against the action plan quarterly and that at the end of the year it is use as a starting point for the next (internal) evaluation. The process can therefore work in a cycle of continuous review and improvement.

In our experience, a best practice board review requires consultants with different backgrounds and experience, who can bring different perspectives to a review.  All the Asesoria Board Effectiveness team members are or have been non-executive and executive board directors, and chairs in a range of organisations which enables them to bring extensive insight when undertaking the review and developing recommendations.