A maturity assessment of your board is a tool that lets you evaluate how well your board is managing itself. Its aim is to help board members improve performance and help make the business more efficient. The process usually involves the self-administration of a questionnaire, followed by a consultation with consultants to analyze the results. The majority of models employ a three to five levels scale to assess different aspects of the performance of your board. The www.healthyboardroom.com/is-your-team-ready-to-handle-a-board-crisis/ first level is described as impromptu and without formal standards or alignment. The third and the second levels are more defined and incorporate processes.
The most important characteristic of any maturity model is the way it prioritizes learning for your board. If you know what your board’s current level it is simple to determine what skills you’ll must master next. Certain models offer generalized estimates of how long it will take to go up one level (e.g. “a level change is approximately six months and a reduction of 25% in productivity”).
The majority of boards begin at the bottom of the maturity scale with the most grudgingly accommodating ones who are aware of their obligations and personal risk. They aren’t willing to put more than the minimum time and resources into governance because it distracts from their ‘proper jobs’ of managing.
They are the ones who must be made to accept that governing is a distinct and very different job from executive management, which requires professional development and evaluation and funds to match. It is a risky endeavor that tests your knowledge of the mind and ability to consider taking risks against a messy and interlinked external world of physical environment, politics economics, social and technological advances and demographic trends.