What is the role of a board?
Do all board members have a common understanding of the board’s role, their role as a director and the relationship with the CEO?
Do you have a consistent process to choose the best person as chair?
How does the board have a role description and a fair process for choosing this individual who oversees board performance?
Do you have a process to manage internal board conflicts?
How about conflict between the board and senior management? Are there board policies in place that deal with conflict resolution and conflict of interest?
Are your board meetings effective and productive?
Do all board members attend consistently, do they come prepared and are they engaged? How is the management team represented at board meetings? Are information packages a manageable size and sent well in advance of meetings?
Do you have a director recruitment process that results in high quality and diverse directors?
Do board members bring a keen interest and complimentary, yet diverse skills and broad interests to the table? Do you have a proactive process to identify new talent?
How do you assess the performance of your board and management?
Is there regular feedback from the board to the CEO? How does the board evaluate its own performance on a regular basis, and that of your chairperson and committees?
Do you have the right board committees, with the right members and current terms of reference?
Are your committees active, providing useful guidance to the board on board matters? Do you have some committees that are dealing with operational matters?
Do you keep in touch with your owners/shareholders and your stakeholders?
Are there regular, effective communications practices that keep key audiences informed and connected?
Do you have plans in place to support the long term success and sustainability of your company or organization?
Is your strategic plan current and relevant, and monitored continuously by the board? What about a risk-management plan?
How does your board add value to the organization or company?
If the board wasn’t there, what would change? What would the impact be?