The first survey is designed for Clubs and Associations and other similarly governed organisations that have a turnover of less than $1 million per year.

The second survey is designed for SMEs (Small and Medium sized organisations). This normally means organisations with less than 250 employees and with turnover of greater than $1 million but less than A$20 million. This version excludes any reference to separate board committees. Larger organisations can also use this survey but it doesn’t provide the same depth as the premium version.

The premium survey is designed for all other organisations including those that have high aspirations and/or the regulatory necessity of being well governed. This includes all listed companies, large private companies, large associations, large not for profit organisations, many government entities and many regulated organisations.

Smaller organisations that have separate board committees and are committed to a high standard of governance can also use the premium survey.

The Lite Director Effectiveness Survey is a short and simple option that measures three areas of effectiveness. It can be added as a module to a Board Effectiveness Survey at a reduced price, and is often done as a first step in assessing individual directors if no other director effectiveness surveys or review processes have been done before.

The Premium Director Effectiveness Survey is the most common, providing more information than the Lite version as it rates directors across 14 important measures of effectiveness. The premium version can be completed relatively unobtrusively without taking the extra time required by the Extended version.

The Extended version of the Director Effectiveness Survey is often used by boards that want to make an extra investment in the effectiveness of their directors during a particular period, or that prefer to do a more detailed review but to do so irregularly.

Many boards and company secretaries like a more personalised service when it comes to dealing with sensitive matters involving the effectiveness of their board. Those boards and company secretaries should select the option for advice in managing and administering the survey which will be provided by one of our Board Advisory Partners.

They can also ask their chosen Board Advisory Partner to assist with interviews, interpreting the survey report, preparing executive summaries, debriefing results with the Chair and/or the Board on the results and the like.

If this is your first time using one of these types of surveys, it may also be wise to invest in the small fee for having a Board Advisory Partner advise you how best to administer and project manage the survey.

If however, you and your board have carried out several Board Effectiveness Surveys previously and you are confident you know the best way to administer and project manage the survey, you may not need that assistance.

Board Benchmarking has a growing network of Board Advisory Partners around the world to assist boards in measuring and improving their effectiveness. Board Advisory Partners can assist and provide advice on how best to manage and administer your survey, and also provide advice and ongoing support following the survey to create action plans for improvement.

Learn more about our Board Advisory Partners here.

There are 4 main steps as follows:

Step 1

Select your survey(s) and the optional extras you require and pay by credit card

Step 2

Immediately after paying by credit card you will be sent a form to complete which will ask you important questions such as:

• The appropriate terminology for your Board, Directors, Chair and CEO
• The date you would like the survey(s) launched
• The date you would like the survey(s) closed
• The email address of the person you would like the report(s) sent to
• Whether you would like to talk to one of Board Benchmarking’s Board Advisory Partners about post-survey professional advice

You will also be asked to upload the names and email addresses of directors and any executives who you want to complete the survey.

Step 3

If you chose the option for advice in relation to the administration and project management of the survey, that advice will be provided before survey launch.

The survey will be sent to your specified recipients on the requested launch date, reminder emails will be sent to those who haven’t completed the survey and the survey will be closed on your requested close date.

Step 4

The report(s) will be prepared and provided to your designated recipient. If you have arranged for a Board Advisory Partner to provide you with post survey professional advice, that will be provided in accordance with the arrangements you have made with that Advisory Partner.

Yes.

Once you have ordered your survey and any optional extras you will be sent a form to complete which asks you to select or advise the appropriate terminology for your Chair (e.g. Chair, President, Chancellor), your Board (e.g. Board, Council, Committee), your Directors (e.g. Directors, Board Members, Committee Members, Council Members) and your CEO (e.g. CEO, Principal, Vice-Chancellor, General Manager, Secretary, Executive Director).

This ensures that the terminology used in the survey is appropriate for your organisation’s circumstances.

After paying for your survey we will send you a form to select certain parameters for your board survey and report, including whether you want your board compared with our entire database of more than 250 boards or just with a subset of similar boards.

We will prepare your benchmarked report based on your request.

Board Benchmarking has designed three surveys to cater for different sizes and types of organisations so no further customisation should be needed. Over 90% of the surveys conducted for clients are not customised other than ensuring the appropriate terminology is used for important terms such as Chair, Director, Board and CEO – refer to the FAQ above.

If you would like to discuss how your survey can be customised for you, please contact one of Board Benchmarking’s Board Advisory Partners to discuss the process and the extra cost involved.

GST stands for Goods and Services Tax. GST has been excluded (excl.) from all prices shown. As Insync, trading as Board Benchmarking, is an Australian resident for Australian tax purposes it is obliged to add GST of 10% to its pre-GST price for all surveys sold to organisations that are also resident in Australia. For Australian resident organisations GST of 10% is added at checkout to the total price.

If your organisation is not an Australian resident company, GST of 10% will not be added at checkout.

All ratings of directors in the Director Effectiveness Reports and Scorecards are included together to provide one average rating in relation to each survey item.

All ratings by directors of Board Effectiveness Survey items are included together to provide one average rating in relation to each survey item. The frequency of director ratings is also displayed in the Board Effectiveness Report but director anonymity is protected as the rating of an item is not linked to a specific director(s).

Ratings by executives of Board Effectiveness Survey items are included together to provide one average rating in relation to each survey item but such average is only displayed if at least three executives completed the survey. The frequency of each executive rating is also displayed in the Board Effectiveness Report but only if at least five executives completed the survey. Executive anonymity is protected as the rating of an item is not linked to a specific executive(s).

Written comments made by directors and executives are reported verbatim and included together in the reports and scorecards to protect the anonymity of individual respondents. Comments are not attributed to any individual unless that person includes their name with their written comments or identifies themselves by virtue of their writing style or particular views.

Board Benchmarking’s privacy policy prevents it from:

• Providing survey responses that can be linked to any individual to their organisation or to any third party without their express written consent
• Providing aggregated information in relation to an organisation or to an organisation’s board to any third party without the organisation’s express written consent.

The survey collection is designed so that no software is required to be downloaded on to a survey process, no permanent cookies are saved and non-traceable cookies only saved by the client browser for the length of the log-in session to verify the client’s identity.

The platform is robust and secure and uses 256-bit TLS encrypted communications and encrypted data storage.

The platform solution utilises Microsoft Azure Public Cloud Services and has extremely high availability, replication and disaster recovery features. Azure holds around 90 Certifications including ISO 27001 & Australian IRAP Certification.

Currently the survey items and questions are only available in English but participants can write their comments in their own language and these are comments are reported verbatim, without translation.

The surveys will be translated into additional languages as Board Benchmarking’s business expands around the world and as demand for the translation of the survey(s) into different languages grows.

If you would like the surveys translated into a specific language please let us know.

Board Benchmarking plans to have Board Advisory Partners in every region of the world to enable local advice to be provided to all buyers of its surveys whether they would like advice in managing and administering the survey or post survey professional advice in interpreting and acting on the survey’s results.

Whilst Board Benchmarking’s global network is being put in place, Board Benchmarking’s current Board Advisory Partners in Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius have agreed to assist all buyers of Board Benchmarking’s surveys no matter their country of residence.

The only current proviso to this is that such advice will be provided in English unless the advice is provided from Mauritius in which case the advice can also be provided in French.

Yes, discounts are available to organisations that agree to acquire in excess of 10 surveys of the same type during a 12 month period, provided that agreement is reached in advance with Board Benchmarking in relation to that discount. Please contact us to discuss further.

If you would like to become a Board Advisory Partner of Board Benchmarking please contact us with details of your experience and credentials in carrying out board evaluations. We will then provide you with a pack that explains the benefits of becoming a Board Advisory Partner.

Yes. Board Benchmarking plans to appoint Referral Partners who are committed to raising the level of governance in their area of influence and who want to provide a value-added governance service to their members and other stakeholders.

To find out more please contact us with your details and why you would like to become a Referral Partner. We will then provide you with a pack that explains the benefits of becoming a Referral Partner.