The best boards always strive to improve their effectiveness continuously. Reviews provide the foundations for agreeing how to increase the value that boards add.

We conduct reviews with questionnaires, observation, interviews and checklists chosen to suit the circumstances.

 Questionnaires are tailored to the relevant Code of Governance and include:

• Rated questions to enable trustees and executives to measure effectiveness
• Open questions to encourage respondents to say what needs to change

We have responses from over 600 board members and executives so can benchmark performance and pinpoint best and worst performance against similar organisations.

Observation and interviews are used to corroborate and contextualise findings and explore sensitive issues.

Together this evidence provides the foundations for discussion and decisions by board members and executives on continuous improvement of effectiveness.

We help organisations restructure their boards and committees.

Our approach usually involves a combination of:

• Face to face or telephone interviews with key people
• Developing the case for change and options for the way forward
• Working with task groups that bring together people who are driving change and those who will be most affected by the change
• Writing reports and facilitating workshops to achieve the desired change.

This work can include working with complex federal organisations, the establishment of international organisations and the development of governance arrangements across the four nations of the UK.

Having the right skills and experience on the board and using them to greatest effect is crucial for effective governance. We help organisations to:

• Identify the skills required on boards and committees
• Review skills required against those held by current members
• Use planned retirements to identify current and future gaps.

We help with the induction of new members, particularly when a number of new members are joining a board at one time and when new board members come with private or public sector experience but less knowledge of charity governance.

We provide coaching support for chairs, committee chairs and managers who want to develop their governance skills.