BELMONT HOUSE Annual Board Self-Review Survey

BELMONT HOUSE - Annual Board Self-Review Survey

This survey is designed to assist board members of Belmont House examine their approaches to governance and identify areas for ongoing improvement. Findings will be compared to survey results of previous years and discussed at the February 27th Board meeting.

The questionnaire should take about 15 minutes to complete. All questionnaires will go directly to the external consultant helping us with the project (David Sheridan) so your replies will remain completely confidential. For the survey to be effective, it should be completed by all current members of the Board of Directors.

Please complete this survey by Wednesday, February 20, 2008.

First, please rate the following aspects of your board's ongoing operations:

	Excellent	Good	Fair	Poor
a) Degree of organization at board meetings
b) Level of participation by members
c) Clarity of board and staff roles
d) Board member access to relevant information
e) Staff support

Think now of your own involvement with the Board of Directors, and indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each of the following statements::

		Agree Strongly	Agree Somewhat	Disagree Somewhat	Disagree Strongly
a)	The board is dealing with important issues
b)	The board has a hard time focusing on issues
c)	We spend too much time discussing things that have nothing to do with the agenda
d)	We have many good discussions and debates on this board
e)	The board seems to have a hard time making decisions
f)	Board members represent a variety of philosophical perspectives
g)	The members of this board work well together
h)	There is a clear distinction between board and executive director roles
i)	I feel quite comfortable in "speaking my mind" at board meetings
j)	Some members tend to dominate board meetings
k)	I believe that my comments are respected by others
l)	Some board members spend too much time representing the interests of specific groups or individuals
m)	We tend to deal with a lot of issues that are outside our mandate
n)	I believe that I make an important contribution to this board
o)	I believe that this board makes an important contribution to the mandate of the organization

What do you feel is the single most important strength of this board?

List below what you feel are the three main obstacles interfering with board performance:

Obstacle 1:
Obstacle 2:
Obstacle 3:

This question pertains to the role of the board. For each item, Column 1 asks you to agree or disagree with a statement about what the role of the board should be. Column 2 asks you to indicate how your board actually behaves.

For each item, select the number which most closely correspond to your view:

4 = Agree strongly
3 = Agree somewhat

2 = Disagree somewhat
1 = Disagree strongly

Column 1
We should do this

Column 2
We actually do this

Keeping up with relevant trends, events and emerging issues

Establishing strategic directions for the organization

Ensuring the needs of our residents are addressed

Providing advice to management on service priorities

Providing advice to management on human resource issues

Influencing government policy

Communicating with the public and specific stakeholder groups

Overseeing financial matters

Being involved in day-to-day operational matters

Lobbying for more resources

Establishing community linkages

Any there any other important roles that should be carried out by the Board of Directors?

Feel free to make any other comments or suggestions to assist in future board planning and development initiatives:

8.	Completed By:
	(Necessary only for follow-up with non-respondents)

Thank you for your cooperation and assistance.