Wellbeing & the Impact at Board Level
2 April 2024
Board Performance Reviews
Optimising Board Performance
Genius Boards is an independent provider of Board Performance Reviews, including Board Evaluations and Board Effectiveness Reviews, operating in the UK and internationally.
A highly effective board of directors is pivotal in the success of your organisation and adds significant value to your business, its customers, shareholders, directors, employees and various other stakeholders.
Recognising this, board performance reviews have, over the past 13 years, emerged as a crucial process for improving both board performance and board dynamics. This enhancement is achieved through the valuable insights provided by an independent perspective, diverse experiences, and a deeper understanding of governance. These benefits apply universally, irrespective of an organisation’s size, status, or type.
With our strong track record in delivering independent board performance reviews, we have added genuine value to boards across a diverse range of sectors: –
Technology, Media & Telecommunications
Financial Services
Education & Social Impact
Healthcare
Industrial
Private Equity
Investment Trusts
Consumer & Luxury Goods
Government Owned Entities
How We Help Organisations Achieve Board Excellence
Our Board Performance Reviews are not one-size-fits-all. We understand that every organisation is unique. We offer customised reviews that are specifically tailored to your organisation’s goals, challenges, and culture. This means you get insights that are directly relevant to your situation, helping you achieve excellence in board performance and decision-making.
Discover more about how we contribute to your Board Performance Reviews:
Customised Board Evaluations
Our Board Performance Reviews are not one-size-fits-all. We understand that every organisation is unique. We offer customised reviews that are specifically tailored to your organisation’s goals, challenges, and culture. Our focus is on delivering prioritised insights tailored to your specific situation helping you achieve excellence in board performance and decision-making.
Three-Dimensional Data-Driven Insights
Our approach combines data analysis with a deep understanding of your organisation’s nuances. We provide you with three-dimensional data-driven insights, ensuring comprehensive sourcing from various internal and external parties that engage with the board. We produce actionable recommendations that are aligned with your strategic objectives, empowering your board to make informed decisions that drive growth and success.
Enhanced Board Effectiveness
By tailoring our reviews to your organisation, we focus on the areas that matter most to you. The concerns that matter to you, your chairman, or CEO require careful consideration to improve their contributions to the overall effectiveness of the board, foster stronger leadership, and implement better governance practices. Our goal is to help your board reach its full performance potential and deliver value to your stakeholders.
Confidential Insightful Feedback
We prioritise confidentiality and trust in every step of the review process. Your organisation’s unique situation as well as personal perspectives and contributions, are handled with the utmost discretion, respect, and understanding. Through these trusted relationships and inquiries, we gain insights into the nuances of the challenges you are facing. We offer honest, constructive feedback and recommendations that contribute to overall improved board performance.
Value-Driven Governance Planning
Our tailored approach delivers value beyond the review. We collaborate with you to develop a governance plan that serves as the framework for the effective implementation of recommended changes. This plan incorporates review points to systematically monitor progress over time. Led by the Company Secretary (or equivalent) and executed by the Directors and governance processes, the governance plan ensures that your board continually evolves and adapts to meet the changing needs of your organisation.
Proven Experience Across Various Sectors Globally
Our track record says it all. We have successfully tailored and delivered numerous board performance reviews for a diverse range of organisations, helping them gain a deeper understanding on the issues that impede their board dynamics. We ensure organisations are optimised to achieve their goals, thrive in their unique environments, and attain sustainable growth.
Experts in Board Dynamics
Our team consists of experienced professionals who specialise in board dynamics. We collaborate with Directors, the CEO, the Company Secretary, and the Chair, pinpointing areas for personal improvement in their contributions to the team effort. Drawing upon a wealth of knowledge, experience, skills, and expertise, we enrich our one-to-one conversations, turning them into enjoyable learning experiences and ensure that your tailored board performance review is comprehensive and insightful.
Cost-Effective Tailored Approach
Tailoring doesn’t mean exorbitant costs. We tailor our approach to align with your company, industry, maturity, scheduling, time constraints, and budget. We are effective, agile and lead the project with senior-level team members. Despite the high-calibre engagement you’ll encounter, we remain mindful of the balance between value and expenditure, ensuring the project is cost-effective.
- We understand that every organisation is unique. We offer customised reviews that are specifically tailored to your organisation's goals, challenges, and culture. Our focus is on delivering prioritised insights tailored to your specific situation helping you achieve excellence in board performance and decision-making.
- We provide you with three-dimensional data-driven insights, ensuring comprehensive sourcing from various internal and external parties that engage with the board. We produce actionable recommendations that are aligned with your strategic objectives, empowering your board to make informed decisions that drive growth and success.
- The concerns that matter to you, your Chairman, or CEO require careful consideration to improve their contributions to the overall effectiveness of the board, foster stronger leadership, and implement better governance practices. Our goal is to help your board reach its full performance potential and deliver value to your stakeholders.
- Your organisation's unique situation as well as personal perspectives and contributions, are handled with the utmost discretion, respect, and understanding. Through these trusted relationships and inquiries, we gain insights into the nuances of the challenges you are facing. We offer honest, constructive feedback and recommendations that contribute to overall improved board performance.
- We collaborate with you to develop a governance plan that serves as the framework for the effective implementation of recommended changes. This plan incorporates review points to systematically monitor progress over time. Led by the Company Secretary (or equivalent) and executed by the Directors and governance processes, the governance plan ensures that your board continually evolves and adapts to meet the changing needs of your organisation.
- We have successfully tailored and delivered numerous board performance reviews for a diverse range of organisations, helping them gain a deeper understanding on the issues that impede their board dynamics. We ensure organisations are optimised to achieve their goals, thrive in their unique environments, and attain sustainable growth.
- We collaborate with Directors, the CEO, the Company Secretary, and the Chair, pinpointing areas for personal improvement in their contributions to the team effort. Drawing upon a wealth of knowledge, experience, skills, and expertise, we enrich our one-to-one conversations, turning them into enjoyable learning experiences and ensure that your tailored board performance review is comprehensive and insightful.
- We tailor our approach to align with your company, industry, maturity, scheduling, time constraints, and budget. We are effective, agile and lead the project with senior-level team members. Despite the high-caliber engagement you'll encounter, we remain mindful of the balance between value and expenditure, ensuring the project is cost-effective.
Board Evaluation Specialists
Providing independent Board Evaluations for enhanced Board dynamics
Our Board Evaluation Process
Our comprehensive and objective board performance review assesses current strengths and opportunities available and we risk assess weaknesses, challenges and threats facing the board.
In the board performance review, when assessing the performance of each Director, a detailed analysis is conducted under specific headings such as character, capabilities, communication, contribution, engagement, skills, experience, leadership, and more. This structured approach provides a comprehensive evaluation.
If individual Director assessments are not explicitly part of the project scope, the gathered information is still utilised and contributes to supporting improvement recommendations for the overall board performance. However, without the specific inclusion of one-to-one feedback to each Director, the assessment remains more generalised.
During our reviews, we prioritise social, trust and interpersonal skills equally with technical skills, industry expertise and corporate structural design. From experience we know that all need to exist in balance and with sufficient diversity to achieve the optimal levels of decision making. The result will be a Board that can transcend its current limitations and achieve true excellence.
The recommendations, encompassed into the governance plan, once debated and prioritised by the board, are the foundation to deliver a high performing board.
The board performance review involves:
- Review of the last 12 months of board and committee meeting packs, focusing on governance, terms of reference, conformance to best practice and key areas such as culture, ESG, cyber-security, risk management, and strategy.
- Confidential one-to-one interviews with board directors, senior executives and other stakeholders.
- Attendance as an observer at board and board committee meetings.
- Depending on the project agreed or arising complexities, completion of a confidential board effectiveness questionnaire by the board and executive participants.
- Feedback of all issues arising with the company secretary and then with the Chair.
- Development of a draft board performance report for initial consideration by the company secretary and Board Chair.
- Presentation of the report's key findings and recommendations to the board.
- Final report with recommendations.
““Group Thinking” or lack of courage to ask the tough and strategic questions is the chief weakness on Boards today.”
Pearl Zhu
Our Commitment
As part of our commitment to driving sustained improvement, our board performance review includes 6 half hour follow up meetings to support either the Board Chair, Company Secretary or Director.
These meetings can address either implementation, new arising issues, personal questions or frustration as well as governance matters.
This commitment, and offer of time, can be drawn up as and how you wish to spend it, ensuring the right outcomes are reached.
How We Can Help?
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