GovernorHub's new board effectiveness tool (available as part of the GovernorHub Knowledge subscription) supports your self evaluation process by auditing and analysing the skills, experience and effectiveness of your team. We’ve worked with industry experts to create a tool that’s simple, easy to use and goes above and beyond a typical skills audit (read our article in the Hoot about it). Even better - it's all automated on GovernorHub, removing the need for fiddly spreadsheets and time consuming analysis.
Our board effectiveness tool is designed to help you and your board:
Benchmark and monitor what makes a board truly effective
View your own strengths and weaknesses and those of the board as a whole
Identify training and succession planning needs for your board
See who has relevant experience in an instant e.g. confidence in chairing or supporting complaints panels
Please note: We have deliberately set the board effectiveness tool to only be available to those allocated to the constitution and associate members of the board (this is to stop non-governors being reminded to fill it in when they don't need to).
If you have not yet set up your constitution you will be prompted to do so before you can continue. Our help article on setting up the constitution shows you how.
If anyone on your board can't access the board effectiveness tool and thinks they should be able to, they should contact the board admin to make sure they're set up correctly.
Is this the same as a skills audit?
Well yes and no! We like to think we've gone above and beyond the standard audit of skills that boards often carry out. Research has shown that skills themselves aren’t always the answer to what makes a board effective - it’s the application of those skills in a specific context that matters. We’ve termed this as a governor's ‘self-efficacy’.
We've enabled you to audit skills and experience with this tool but have also developed a set of 'efficacies' that gets to the heart of what makes an effective board. We hope by measuring these, individuals will be able to reflect on what they need to become effective and boards will be able to act on gaps and evidence ongoing development.
Our board effectiveness tool takes 5-10 minutes to complete and does all the analysis for you. We hope this is one less spreadsheet for you to fill out!
Is this an appropriate tool for a trust board?
Absolutely! We have deliberately designed this tool to suit all types of board and all types of governor/trustee.
Who can see my responses?
Only you (and your admin) can view all of your individual responses.
Your answers will also be combined with those of everyone on the constitution; an overview can be found in a governing board's effectiveness tab.
Efficacies: Everyone (including non-governors) can see how many people said what - but not ‘who’ (we want to encourage those responding to be honest without feeling vulnerable). Admins can view efficacies for an individual by clicking on 'view all'.
Skills, experience and training: Everyone (including non governors) can see who said what to support with planning.
I sit on multiple boards. Do I have to do it multiple times?
For efficacies, we understand that responses may be different for different boards (e.g. you may feel able to voice your opinions in meetings on one, but not on another). For this reason you will need to fill out your efficacies for each board you sit on.
For skills, experience and training needs however, how you respond for one board will be the same as you would for another so, when you fill these out for any board you sit on, the data will automatically be pulled into the other boards you sit on too.
Do note, if your board view shows that 0% of your board has filled out their efficacies but there is data showing in the skills, training and experience summaries - this will most likely be because you;re seeing data filled in by governors/trustees that sit on other boards too.
Can I edit / change the fields in the questions?
The short answer is no - if you feel however that we have missed something vital out of this first iteration do please let us know. We want this tool to be truly effective and as such we are always happy to take feedback on board.
How can a MAT view effectiveness across the trust
At the moment MAT governance leads will need to visit each board to see their summary. We will however be building a MAT view in the next iteration so watch this space!!
Can I download a board effectiveness report?
Whilst we do intend for results to be viewed in product, we know that downloads will be a popular demand! We don't have a download yet but it is in phase 2 of this project.
How can I find out more?
Read our board effectiveness user guide to take a walk through the process. If you're an admin or want to know more about how to get the most out of the tool, read our Board effectiveness - guide for admins or ask us a question in the chat bubble at the bottom right of this screen.