LEADERS IN EXECUTIVE COACHING

We were asked by the Chairman of a FTSE-250 company to explain modern practice with regard to evaluating the success of a Board. After discussion, it became clear that he wanted to have clear feedback on all members of his Board, as well as some ideas for improving both the cohesiveness of the Board processes and how they could make their time more profitable. The process involved one-to-one structured interviews for two hours with each of the non-Execs and Execs on the Board, including the Chair; review of all the Board papers including minutes, agenda papers and agendas for the main Board and its relevant sub committees such as Remuneration and Audit; discussion with the Partner in the two accounting firms responsible for internal and external audit; sitting in on an Audit Committee and one full Board meeting and then producing a draft report which was discussed in detail with the Chairman. A revised report was then sent to each Board member and was discussed thoroughly at a Board meeting which concluded that there should be an awayday of the Board specifically identified with the purpose of taking the issues and recommendations in the report and deciding how to implement them both in terms of changes in personnel and processes. This happened three months after the Board meeting and many of the recommendations were implemented. Separately, the Chairman received unattributable comments on his own and every other member of the Board's performance and he subsequently had one-to-one discussions with each of the Directors leading to new objectives for the coming year. Although concerned at the cost initially compared with an in-house review, the Chairman concluded at the end of the process that this had been excellent value for money and would undoubtedly improve the workings of the Board in coming years.