Maximise Leadership Impact
Harness CEO feedback to enhance organisational performance.
CEO Effectiveness Surveys Overview
A board’s ability to appoint, guide, develop, and evaluate its CEO is one of its most critical responsibilities. When done thoughtfully, it significantly enhances the long-term performance and culture of the organisation.
Establishing a rigorous and consistent approach to CEO performance review sends a strong message—it reinforces high expectations not only for the CEO but also for the broader executive team and the entire organisation.
Most CEOs appreciate structured, high-quality feedback that provides meaningful insights into their leadership style and areas for improvement. They often prefer honest, well-organised input delivered through a formal process. Yet in many cases, CEOs don’t receive regular, constructive feedback that fully reflects their performance and impact.
Benefits of a CEO Effectiveness Survey
A CEO effectiveness survey provides a structured approach to gathering meaningful insights about a CEO’s performance from multiple perspectives. Using a defined framework and a well-structured survey offers a balanced evaluation that goes beyond intuition or informal feedback. It helps boards, executives, and even the CEO themselves to surface strengths and identify areas for growth based on experience and observation.
The survey process fosters alignment on expectations by clarifying what effective leadership entails across multiple dimensions. When used consistently, it becomes a tool for accountability and shared understanding, reducing ambiguity in performance conversations and fostering transparency in leadership evaluation.
Another key benefit is that it enables development-oriented feedback in a safe and structured format. Rather than focusing only on performance outcomes, it invites input on leadership behaviours, decision-making, and organisational influence. This supports coaching, self-reflection, and succession planning with specific, actionable insights.
Finally, CEO surveys can strengthen governance. Boards gain a more comprehensive, data-informed view of leadership effectiveness, enabling them to fulfil their oversight responsibilities with greater confidence. In high-performing organisations, the survey also signals a commitment to continuous improvement and cultural maturity at the top.
Our CEO Attribute Ranking Survey
While we recognise 36 attributes that contribute to great CEO leadership, not all of them carry the same weight, nor should they. The relevance of specific attributes often shifts depending on an organisation’s stage of growth. For instance, the qualities needed in a start-up CEO may differ significantly from those required in times of consolidation, transformation, or maturity.
To help boards align on the most important leadership traits—whether to support a current CEO’s development or guide succession planning—we offer the CEO Attribute Ranking Survey. This tool asks directors and/or senior leaders to rate each of the 36 attributes by assigning a value of 1 (lower importance), 2 (moderate importance), or 3 (highest importance). Each rating must be used 12 times, prompting thoughtful prioritisation.
The resulting Attribute Ranking Report enables meaningful discussion and consensus among board members around which qualities matter most for the organisation’s current and future needs. It often surfaces valuable insights by highlighting areas of alignment and divergence in leadership expectations.
By clarifying which traits are most critical, the ranking process also adds depth to the CEO Effectiveness Survey that follows. It enhances the overall evaluation by tailoring effectiveness feedback to the attributes that matter most, improving both relevance and impact.
Our CEO Effectiveness Survey Process
To gain the most comprehensive insight, we recommend pairing the CEO Effectiveness Survey with the CEO Attribute Ranking Survey. That said, the CEO Effectiveness Survey can also stand alone and still deliver significant value.
The survey is usually completed by the CEO, board members, and often the CEO’s executive team. Including a broader set of responses adds richness to the process, especially when participants provide thoughtful written feedback on the CEO’s strengths and areas for development. These comments frequently reinforce the patterns that emerge from the numerical ratings, offering deeper context to the final CEO Effectiveness Report.
We, or one of our trusted partners, can support the debrief process by guiding the Chair or a nominated leader through interpreting the results and identifying key takeaways. We also offer facilitation for CEO debriefs and can assist in shaping a customised development plan aligned with the survey insights.
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Our Surveys
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Board Benchmarking has developed other surveys and reports to help boards achieve organisational success. These surveys are supported by expert advice on how to interpret and act on the results by our Global Board Advisory Partners.
