The Importance of Board Evaluation

Boards have a lot on their plate. There are so many responsibilities and tasks to juggle at once that it can be easy to forget about how the board is working together as a team. When that happens, things can slip between the cracks and it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of getting tasks done. But boards should always take a step back and evaluate the work they’ve done and the work they’re doing. 

There are many reasons why professional boards should evaluate their own work. It shows good corporate governance, promotes transparency and accountability, encourages learning, and increases the impact of the board’s work. 

That’s exactly what TLT Leadership is here to help with. They created a board evaluation tool to help boards understand their strengths and weaknesses in a number of different areas. We asked TLT Leadership founders Kari Bech-Moen and Ingeborg Molden Hegstad why organisations need to get more serious about board evaluation.

Q: Why is board evaluation important? 

A: Board evaluation tools, such as the one we have created, help to achieve this goal by providing an objective framework for evaluation of the board and its capabilities. 

Typically, an evaluation will cover how the board conducts its responsibilities, the effectiveness of the board’s work, the leadership of the board, efficiency of board processes and the quality of contributions from board members. 

The process is crucial for creating a culture of feedback and transparency and creates a baseline for improving performance over time. The outputs of evaluation are also very useful for nomination committees that are responsible for identifying candidates for a board, increasing diversity, and filling competency gaps.

Q: Why did you create TLT and the board evaluation tool? 

A: As experienced board members, we saw a need in the market for a more effective and user-friendly digital board evaluation offering.

Many of the board evaluation tools that boards currently use are cumbersome, costly and take too long to complete. In many cases, this becomes an obstacle to board members completing or participating in the evaluation. 

We also believe our tool will be an easy-to-adopt option for boards that still use do-it-yourself methods for evaluations. Typically, these methods involve the board secretary sharing questionnaires via Google Docs or other collaboration services, or the board chair meeting with board members for one-to-one discussions. The advantage of a digital tool over these methods is that it will support confidentiality, promote transparency, and secure a robust list of objective criteria reflecting best practice board work. 

Q: How should boards use the results from the evaluations? 

A: Boards should use insights from the evaluation processes to build awareness of best practices and understand the board and management’s expectations. But the most important outcome is a clear plan for improving how the board performs. 

This will only happen if all contributing parties fully believe in the value of the process and commit to taking decisive action on the findings. An evaluation can only take you so far. It’s how you respond that really matters.

Q: What do you think are the biggest challenges for boards right now, and how will more efficient and effective evaluations help boards to tackle them? 

A: Global economic instability, accelerating technology development and increased regulatory requirements place new demands on decision making and reporting. A digital evaluation tool can help stage a range of important discussions in the boardroom, such as “Do we address the right issues in the boardroom?” and, “Are we working in an effective and efficient way, and covering all our responsibilities?”

The biggest challenge for boards is striking the balance between supporting the company on the strategy and innovation agenda, while at the same time overseeing financial risk and meeting increased reporting and compliance requirements.

From left: Kristoffer Munthe Aasbø and Møyfrid Øygard from Admincontrol. From right: Kari Bech-Moen and Ingeborg Molden Hegstad from TLT Leadership.

About Kari

Kari Bech-Moen has 20 years of management experience from tech-start-ups to corporate executive positions, including Telenor and DNB. She has experience from the Board of Directors of Huma AS (chair), Conexus AS, Xplora AS, Smart Cylinders AS, Diversity Index (Chair) and Seema AS.

About Ingeborg

Ingeborg Hegstad has over 20 years of experience from management consulting, including McKinsey & Company, Egon Zehnder and Imsight. She has held board positions in Cxense ASA (2017-2019), Q-Free ASA (2018- 2021), and is currently serving on the boards for Strongpoint ASA (2020-d.d.), Cyviz (2020-d.d.) and Gjensidige Mobility Group (2023-d.d.)