AssessWell

AssessWell Photo

Governing performance self-assessment is vital for boards to ensure continual improvement in governing health and wellness.  And it’s one of the most reliable ways to identify and correct governance trouble spots before they get out of control.

Successful governing practices and performance self-assessments enable boards to identify “leadership gaps” where the board has the greatest potential for improvement.  The assessment process clearly reveals these gaps, and facilitates the development and implementation of initiatives and strategies to improve leadership performance.

Through an effective, well-developed board self-assessment process growth opportunities can be realized, education can be pinpointed to unique governance needs, recruitment of new trustees can be undertaken with increased confidence, and long-range planning can be conducted within a consensus-based framework with everybody on the same page.

The AssessWell toolkit includes a step-by-step guide and customizable, easy-to-use materials for conducting a robust governance practices and performance assessment. 

  • Full board assessment, including an “organizer” with suggested criteria for boards to consider in each area the board should evaluate; a sample survey questionnaire; sample email and letter correspondence; and a sample press release.  Also included is a sample completed PowerPoint report, written report, and sample analysis of open-ended survey comments.
  • An assessment of governing board committees, including an “organizer” with suggested criteria to measure for each board committee; a sample survey questionnaire form; and sample email and letter correspondence.
  • A peer assessment, including a customizable sample peer leadership assessment form; a customizable sample format for compiling peer assessment results; and customizable sample email and letter correspondence.
  • Materials to assist boards in planning for governance gain, using the assessment results to improve overall board performance in areas of opportunity.  These materials include an instruction guide; a customizable sample spreadsheet for prioritizing governance gain initiatives; and a document with 101 governance best practices ideas.