It's a good idea for board members to take a look in the mirror now and again to take stock of how well they are doing, both as individual directors and collectively as the board. A self-evaluation is a good tool for that.

Sometimes, boards can get off track and lose focus without even knowing it. Maybe there have been too many recent crises and the board has allowed its strategic role to take a back seat - even though thinking strategically may have avoided some of those crises in the first place. Perhaps the board is overlapping the role of the manager too much. It could be that board meetings are not effective. An evaluation can flag problems like these that you might never have noticed otherwise.

Then there are the directors individually. How is each board member performing? Do they have the training needed to do the job?

Do they prepare for meetings? How well do they contribute at the board table? Are they always putting the co-op's interests first?

What kinds of questions should the directors be asking themselves in an evaluation? Here's a sample list.

Does the board

• focus on the big picture without getting drawn into management tasks
• have a clear sense of the co-op's mission and vision
• receive training to help it do its job effectively
• plan what it wants to get done over the year
• understand the co-op's finances
• have effective, well-organized meetings with the right information
• communicate with the membership?

Do I, as a director

• understand and meet my duties of care and loyalty to the co-op
• put the co-op's needs first and avoid conflicts of interest
• attend and prepare adequately for meetings
• participate in the discussions at the board table
• listen to my fellow directors, even if I don't always agree with their views
• support board decisions once they are made?

These are just some of the questions that can form part of an evaluation for boards and for directors individually.

How to carry out the evaluation? The best way is to do it individually and collectively. You can make the process anonymous and you can even do it using an online tool such as Survey Monkey that allows you to easily create and distribute your own surveys. If you do a paper evaluation, ask your manager or your board secretary to compile the results. They can do it without revealing names.

And finally on this subject, learn from the results. If it looks like your board is struggling a bit, well, you're not alone, and there's help available. Just talk to your local federation or get in touch with us here at CHF Canada.

Signs that the board evaluates its performance:

• board and director evaluations take place every year
• the board uses the results of the evaluations to improve its performance.