What is a Board Management Maturity Model?

A board management maturity model is a method used to examine how your board of directors manages itself. Its goal is to help the board members improve their performance and make the business more successful. The process usually involves an online questionnaire that is self-administrated and then a discussion with consultants to interpret the results. The majority of models employ three or five levels to evaluate the various aspects of your board’s performance. The first level is characterized as spontaneous, lacking formal standards or alignment. The third and second levels are more defined and incorporate processes.

The most important element of any maturity model is the way it prioritizes your board’s development. Knowing the maturity level of your board allows you to easily determine what skills you need to learn in the next. There are models that provide general estimates of how long it takes to get to an individual level (e.g. “A level change is about six months, and it results in a 25% decrease in productivity”.

Most boards begin at the bottom of the maturity scale and are the ones that are reluctantly acquiescent who are aware of their obligations and personal risk. They aren’t willing to put more than the minimum amount of time and resource into governance due to the fact that it distracts them from their “real” tasks of managing.

They are the people who have to be made to accept that ‘governing’ is a separate, distinct and a completely different job from executive management, which requires professional development and www.healthyboardroom.com/how-to-choose-the-best-software-solution-for-your-data-security-needs/ evaluation and the appropriate funding. It is a risky activity that requires a lot of imagination as well as your understanding and willingness to take calculated risks in the complex and interconnected external world of economics and politics.