GENERAL PERSPECTIVES

Each corporation has at any point of time a particular owner structure, business dynamics and organization. To be effective the board evaluation should reflect those specifics.

The evaluation must be based on a thorough understanding of the way the Board functions, the business drivers, as well as on discussions with the Chair on ambition, content and angle of the evaluation.

The nature of the evaluation is not only towards the Board’s effectiveness and on identification of areas of improvement, but also aimed at identifying the key strengths that should be preserved and nurtured.

A positive side effect of a well-run board evaluation process is that it brings a clearer understanding of the board’s role and provides the board members with tools to improve their own value contribution going forward.

 

Benefits using HOWITZ & SAND

  • We are independent from the Board and the Executive Board.
  • We have no conflict of interest related to other consultancy services.
  • Participants are invited to speak freely, and confidentiality will be respected.
  • We apply a professional set of methods and bring a neutral balanced validation of statements and findings.
  • We will take a business approach and deal with the essential issues for a particular Board.

METHODOLOGY

The evaluation has focus on one dynamic context consisting of 4 elements, the quality of which altogether constitutes the board’s ability to focus on value creation: Formal Frames, Content & Processes, Governing Bodies and Underlying Relationship Dynamics: See figure below.

It is the evaluations job to navigate carefully through this dynamic in order to understand and select the root elements to cast focus on and then to suggest an effective way forward. Things may on one level look quite fine and then on another level be inhibiting or directly destructive.

Working with the Board

Working with Boards we carry a couple of basic assumptions which are central to our approach:

  • The board members are competent people who are motivated for the role.
  • There is a non-punitive curious learning approach to the evaluation.
  • The Board is understood as a high-performance team with its specific characteristics.