Most Boards of Directors struggle a bit with their CEO evaluation process. Most lack structure in their evaluation process, leaving the Board members uneasy about whether or not they have done a good job of this important evaluation.
One of our client’s Board of Directors in 2007 wished to improve their existing process for their CEO evaluation. Their past system involved a Compensation Committee discussion of their CEO’s accomplishment of his annual goals, followed by a discussion of his compensation. Then the Committee made a recommendation to the full Board. The CEO’s annual goals are well-written SMART goals, and his success in them is measured by numbers.
A Better CEO Evaluation
We proposed using an online survey of Board members to add structure and a qualitative element to the evaluation process. Such a component measures not only the extent to which the CEO accomplished his goals, but also how they were accomplished.
The survey is administered entirely online, and hosted on a secure server located outside the client organization. Board members need to simply follow a link and log onto the survey with a user name and password to access the survey and begin providing their feedback. Both numerical ratings and narrative comments are provided. The CEO also self-assesses him/herself. After the deadline, the anonymous feedback is compiled into a results report like the one below, and copies are provided to all Board members and the CEO. We provide a web conference with both the CEO, and (if desired) with the Board members, on how to read and interpret the results report.
We have been administering this evaluation for the Board of that particular client company every year since 2007, as well as others.
We invite you to read the sample CEO evaluation report that results from the Board survey, and then contact us to talk further about improving your chief executive’s evaluation process.