Overview of our surveys
Boards Insync is the specialist division of Insync Surveys that delivers board survey services. Insync Surveys has six world class surveys of special interest to boards which are available globally and can be tailored to meet each organisation’s requirements:
Board Effectiveness Survey — benchmarks the effectiveness of boards in the public, private, government and not-for-profit sectors
Board Risk Survey — measures the effectiveness of a board in dealing with its risk responsibilities
Risk Committee Effectiveness Surveys— measures the effectiveness of a board or a management risk committee in dealing with its risk responsibilities
Audit Committee Effectiveness Survey — benchmarks the effectiveness of an audit committee against other organisations
Director 360 Survey — also known as a director-peer degree survey, it measures the effectiveness of individual directors in the context of their role on a board
Employee Risk Culture Survey – measures an organisation’s risk culture, both overall and in each segment thereof
With the Global Financial Crisis and the increasing call for improved corporate governance and board accountability, right now is one of the most important times to carry out one or more comprehensive board surveys with a view to enhance your effectiveness.
Boards can demonstrate their leadership, their commitment to good corporate governance and accountability to stakeholders by conducting an independent review of the board, their directors and committees.
Most people understand the importance and benefits of a regular medical check up to identify any risks to their health and to determine whether their bodies are functioning to their optimal capacity.
In a similar way, Insync Surveys recommends the regular use of its surveys to determine any risks to the “health” of the board or committees and the extent to which they are functioning to their optimal capacity.
It is important that a review of a board, a director, or a committee’s effectiveness isn’t purely seen as a compliance or box ticking exercise, but rather one that can contribute to enhancing board performance.
Insync Surveys’ board surveys have been completed by many organisations ranging from very large publicly listed organisations, to private, government and not-for-profit entities.
Each of our board surveys can be completed separately or in conjunction with a process that includes interviews with directors and management, reviews of charters, agendas, board or committee papers, minutes and the like. We have highly experienced board and research specialists that are involved in this important process.
The report that is prepared following the completion of each survey is designed to measure the current extent of effectiveness and to highlight improvement initiatives.
Internally self administered surveys
Many boards that conduct a board survey use their own internal self administered survey to assess their effectiveness. Some of the limitations of using such surveys, however, include:
- they are rarely comprehensive in the issues they address
- the survey statements are often inappropriately worded and untested
- the survey process can be prone to bias and often lacks statistical rigour
- they do not promote candour as respondent anonymity isn’t protected
- without benchmarking or an appropriate gap analysis, the results are often incorrectly interpreted.
