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Board Assessment Services and Tools

AGB offers a variety of assessment services and tools:

Board Self-Study Workshop

These full-day engagements are designed to strengthen relationships, build trust, and improve individual and organizational effectiveness. They are designed to provide boards with an opportunity to step back from the preoccupations of regular board business to candidly review their performance and develop a set of objectives that will strengthen the board's effectiveness.
Workshop Benefits

Benefits are as varied as the distinct needs of each board. This workshop can help establish:

  • a clearer understanding of the board's responsibilities and roles
  • consensus on specific objectives to improve board organization, relationships with constituents, and performance
  • a better working relationship between the board and the chief executive--including clarification of mutual expectations, mutual support, and improved communication
  • a renewed sense of commitment to the institution's mission and purpose
  • more productive board meetings
  • increased commitment to personal philanthropy and participation in fund-raising

Self-Study Survey

A self-study survey is completed board members and the chief executive in preparation for the workshop. It is designed to elicit candid perceptions of the board's effectiveness in key areas of board responsibility. Versions of the survey are available for foundation boards and governing boards of independent colleges and universities, public single campus institutions and multi-campus systems, community colleges, and theological institutions. Questions can be modified to meet the specific needs of individual boards.
Workshop Agenda

The workshop agenda is developed by the facilitator in consultation with the chief executive and board chair after he or she reviews the results of the self-study survey and background material provided by the institution.

Workshop agendas typically include these elements:

  • Discussion of the board's responsibilities
  • An opportunity to explore board members' perceptions of the board's role and to compare them with commonly accepted responsibilities.
  • Discussion of the self-study summary
  • A portion of the workshop is devoted to the self-study survey responses and board performance.
  • Discussion groups
  • Board members meet in groups to devise specific objectives and strategies to improve the board's effectiveness. These are discussed by the full board and become the basis for further review and action after the workshop concludes.

Considerations

It is important that participation in the program be fully discussed and agreed upon by the board prior to the workshop. Application to AGB should be made three to four months in advance to allow sufficient time to select the workshop facilitator, conduct the self-study survey, plan the agenda, and make meeting-site arrangements. Ordinarily, only board members and the chief executive participate in the workshop.
History

Since 1977, more than 750 institutions have participated in this highly respected AGB program. For almost 30 years, board assessment workshops have received uniformly outstanding evaluations by participating boards and their chief executives.