My name is Zita Unger and I am Director of a private consulting company in Australia offering corporate diagnostic tools, including board self-assessment, culture surveys and 360-degree feedback. I also serve on two non-profit boards.

Does your board assess its performance? Whatever your organization, one of the most reliable ways a board can improve its performance as a governing body is to periodically assess itself. All best practice governance standards recommend this.

Board governance is not about management, but about direction and control, that is, approving the mission and strategic direction, monitoring risk assessment and reviewing and approving management decisions. Board assessments should, at very least, cover areas of functional activity and regulatory compliance.

However, the key to an effective board lies with its culture.

The elephant, of course, is a metaphor for a problem that everyone knows exists and which everyone tries to ignore. The elephant may be board power, chair leadership style, environmental uncertainty, information asymmetry, corporate culture, and executive/management relationships. The chair, who may be part of the problem, would be least suited to undertake the role of assessment.  A well conducted external evaluation process can assist to elicit the ‘undiscussable’ issues and facilitate positive board dialogue.

Hot Tips for assessing board performance:

1. First and foremost, determine what the board hopes to achieve. One size does not fit all. The organization, sector, competitive environment, board maturity and severity of problems can all influence specific assessment objectives. Goals such as problem resolution, improved governance and board dynamics will thus determine the type of assessment and allocation of resources toward it.
2. Second, align the scope of evaluation with agreed board assessment objectives. Assessment may include the board as-a-whole, individual director assessments, board committees, and chair. Bringing additional outside sources such as CEO, senior managers, owner/members, and major suppliers, will depend on the issues involved.  Ultimately, assessment should fit the purpose.
3. Third, engage with the board to develop an evaluation process that is transparent and consistent with agreed board assessment objectives. Improved levels of trust among board members and between board and management should be a priority and an outcome of assessment.

Resource: Armstrong, A. and Unger, Z., (2009). Assessment, Evaluation and Improvement of University Council Performance. Evaluation Journal of Australasia 9 (1), 46-54

And, if you want to learn more from Zita, check out the B&I Sponsored Sessions on the program for Evaluation 2010, November 10-13 in San Antonio.

board, culture, governance

Hi!  We are Seth Kaplan and Sue Ann Sarpy.  Seth is an assistant professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology at George Mason University, and Sue Ann is an assistant Principal of Sarpy and Associates, LLC and Clinical Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.  Today we will be sharing a few tips about considering organizational factors when trying to evaluate training initiatives.

In examining the effects of training programs in improving on-the-job performance, it should be noted that positive learning gains do not necessarily translate into the participants performing the training-related behaviors once back on the job. A primary reason for this disconnect is the influence of contextual or organizational factors that facilitate or impede the attainment of high levels of effectiveness.  In effect, these conditions place an upper limit on the potential impact that the training may have on related outcomes.

Common organizational factors, which can either enhance or hinder job behavior, including  training-related behavior, include: time and scheduling issues, budgetary and financial considerations, the presence or absence of relevant supplies and materials, the adequacy of the physical work environment, the competence and cooperation of other organizational members and partners, and the extent to which the job context mirrors the training context and provides opportunity for practicing training-related behaviors.

Hot Tip: We strongly recommend that evaluation of training programs should include a systematic assessment of these organizational factors to examine their role in hindering or facilitating the transference of training-related behaviors. Identification of organizational barriers can serve to explain why particular aspects of the training content did not translate into the expected increases in on-the-job effectiveness. Also, after learning which factors are most frequent and problematic, the training program developers can incorporate this information into subsequent iterations of the training by alerting trainees of these barriers and by teaching them skills to address and overcome them. In addition, the program developers can leverage the organizational facilitators by emphasizing the importance of these factors in producing superior performance.

Hot Tip: Evaluation of these factors typically is done by constructing a standard survey on which trainees assess the extent to which each factor facilitates or impedes their on-the-job effectiveness (e.g., on a 7-point Likert-type scale). Subject matter experts should provide the factors that will appear in the survey. In our experience though, the factors are rather consistent across occupations and industries. In order to increase the reliability of these ratings, we would recommend also surveying other individuals who work in the trainees’ office or department. Ideally, there should be convergence among these responses. Mean values then can be computed to determine which factors serve as the most influential barriers and facilitators.

This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.

organizational factors, training