Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Activity

The topic of board evaluation will be covered more fully in the next section, but the activities suggested below are some ways to gain input on the effectiveness of your board meetings. At the same time, the results can feed into the larger board evaluation process.

Boards can take a formal or informal approach to gaining feedback about their meeting effectiveness. Informally, once or twice a year (depending on how often the board meets) a simple survey can be handed out to directors asking questions like:

• What do you like best about board meetings? Least?
• Are you satisfied with the items that are usually on the agenda?
• What could be done to encourage more discussion at the meetings?
• Is the timing and location of meetings convenient for you?

The more formal tool provided below has been adapted from Board Building: Recruiting and Developing Effective Board Members for Not-for-Profit Organizations. It involves selecting an objective observer (paid or volunteer) to sit in on one or more meetings to observe the board's process as it carries out its activities at a meeting. Using the checklist provided, the observer is not meant to give advice but to summarize the feedback and provide it to the board for review.

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