About Us
Board Benchmarking is a division of Insync. Board Benchmarking’s aspiration is to help lift the performance and effectiveness of thousands of boards across the globe, because we believe Better Boards means Better Organisations.
Board Benchmarking plans to achieve its bold aspiration by:
- Making affordable, validated, world-class, benchmarked board and director surveys available to organisations across the globe no matter what their size, nature, industry or location. Professional advice to interpret and act on the survey results is also available through a growing global network of Board Advisory Partners
- Supporting a global network of Board Advisory Partners to enhance and grow their businesses by helping them improve the evidence-based insights and practical advice they provide to their clients when they use one of Board Benchmarking’s validated, world class, benchmarked surveys
- Partnering with industry and other associations (Referral Partners) to help them improve the performance and effectiveness of their constituents and stakeholders by providing them with affordable, world class benchmarked board and director surveys with the option of obtaining specialist professional advice from one of our Board Advisory Partners.
A solid foundation
Board Benchmarking was established by Nicholas Barnett in 2005 to help lift governance across the world by developing and providing world class governance surveys to clients. Fifteen years later we have helped over 400 boards understand how they are benchmarked overall and in the 20 most important areas for a board’s effectiveness. In the words of our clients, our surveys are “surprisingly accurate” and “highlight hot spots very quickly and easily”.
During early 2020 we refined our benchmarked Board Effectiveness Survey following an independent validation process by Deakin University to establish psychometrically defensible dimensions of board functioning that can be used to reliably evaluate board performance. The process also included a detailed review of contemporary board literature which also added some additional dimensions. The new dimensions and refined survey items are reflected in our current survey and benchmarked report.
We have also helped hundreds of directors understand how others rate them compared with their own ratings and how the ratings of them compare with the ratings of other directors. The areas where they add the greatest value to their board and the suggestions others have for them are also included. As directors continue to improve their effectiveness that also helps continuously improve their effectiveness of their board and the functioning of their organisation.
About our Founder, Nicholas Barnett
Nicholas is a governance expert and experienced practitioner, and has been a director, business leader and consultant for over 35 years.
Nicholas is Executive Chairman and a co-founder of Board Benchmarking and Insync, a former chairman of Ansvar Insurance, First Samuel and Ambit Group, a former director of Mission Australia and a former partner of KPMG Australia. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).
He has personally carried out reviews of the performance and effectiveness of more than 150 boards including for organisations as diverse as Aruma, Australian Ethical, Ballarat Grammar, Bapcor, BNZ, Brown Brothers Wines, Cbus Property, Chartered Accountants ANZ, Dental Health Services Victoria, Dexus, Federation University, FSD Uganda, GrainCorp, Green Collect, HESTA, Housing Choices Australia, iSignthis, Malawi HR Association, Melbourne Water, NAB, NSW Business Chamber, Redbubble, Red Hill Football Netball Club, Royal Women’s Hospital, Ruyton Grammar, Suburban Land Agency, Telstra Super, Theta Edge Berhad and World Vision.
All those reviews have involved the use of Board Benchmarking’s world-class benchmarked Board Effectiveness Survey and many of which also involve director and executive interviews and a separate expert report with insights and recommendations. Separate Director Effectiveness Surveys and to a lesser extent Committee Effectiveness Modules have also been incorporated as part of many such reviews.
As well as conducting in excess of 150 board reviews Nicholas has assisted Board Benchmarking’s Board Advisory Partners to help their clients interpret and act on the results of almost another 150 board reviews. For several of those reviews, Nicholas has joined the Board Advisory Partner in providing a presentation to the relevant Chair, Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee and/or to the relevant board.
Nicholas is also an author, speaker and expert media commentator in relation to governance, organisation culture and gender diversity. He has written numerous governance articles and three books on leadership, culture, engagement and transformational change. His third book titled, Why purpose matters: and how it can transform your organisation, was co-authored with Dr Rodney Howard.
Nicholas lives with his family in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Our values
Our values are our organisation’s way of life. We embrace, reinforce and live by them to succeed, to overcome challenges, lead change and evolve. Our values form and shape our organisation’s culture and DNA and make us distinctively Board Benchmarking.
We always look ahead and think creatively with purpose and bravery
We use a collaborative mindset to underpin all we do internally and with our clients and partners
We meet our commitments to our clients, partners and to each other
We discover and speak the truth to our clients, partners and each other, with respect and integrity
We set high expectations for ourselves and others, and are passionate about achieving success