Why use Thinking Board?
We distilled more than twenty years’ experience of reviewing hundreds of boards into our online board assessment platform. It does so much more than grade performance, providing insightful analysis and reporting to help your board formulate a practical development plan.
Thinking Board® brings 20 years of governance expertise into one platform to run board and committee reviews that give you a clear path to improve.
Most board questionnaires won’t get you very far.
Typical questionnaires tell you little. The questions are often unclear and uninteresting. Real issues aren’t surfaced. You don’t see where your board is misaligned. The board review rarely inspires meaningful change.
No real insight.
Without the right questions, you don’t know what the score means. And predictable questions don’t prompt comments.
A bit tedious.
Without questions that help you think and learn, it’s uninspiring. It makes the review a process to be gone through.
Hard to act on.
Scores that don’t tell you about the underlying problem don’t help much. Results that can’t be actioned aren’t helpful.
Thinking Board® questions make a difference.
It’s practical.
The language is simple and short. And the issues we ask you to think about are about how boards actually work.
It’s interesting.
Respondents find our questions thought-provoking. It encourages comments and feels engaging.
It gives a richer picture.
You know what is driving the score and the frequency of responses helps you prioritise actions.
See how Thinking Board could work for you
The unique question structure in Thinking Board® makes all the difference. Our clients tell us they are surprised at how much insight they get. So they know what the problem is and can find practical solutions.
Thinking Board to support an externally-facilitated board review
Thinking Board Evaluator for a lighter touch review
What really makes a difference is our questions.
Thinking Board questions are painstakingly designed to deliver far more insight than you might think is possible. We’ve built them to incorporate features that provide more value for your Board:
Thinking Board Features
- Thinking Board® poses questions in a unique way that does far more than ask for a score.
- We ask respondents to identify several influencing factors before they give a response
- Questions are clear, focus on practical outcomes and avoid words lifted out of codes, including all forms of “compliance-speak”.
Better outcomes
- More engaging questions stimulate thoughtful, revealing responses.
- It’s possible to identify the reasons behind the scores provided.
- Respondents understand the real purpose of the question.
Question structure
- Thinking Board uses the language of the boardroom, and approaches issues pragmatically, from a director’s perspective.
- All answers are non-attributable and completely confidential
- Responses can be split by role or location
- Thinking Board offers a whole range of governance assessment options designed to help with everything from your annual board review to more focused assessments of specific areas.
Better outcomes
- Answers often include evidence and practical suggestions for further discussion.
- Respondents are more forthcoming and sensitive issues can be raised safely
- It’s easier to identify the root cause of issues
- Use Thinking Board to assess the effectiveness of risk management & culture, ESG, Internal Audit and much more.
How Thinking Board can support your board review
We distilled more than twenty years’ experience of reviewing hundreds of boards into our online governance assessment platform. It does so much more than grade performance, providing insightful analysis and reporting to help your board formulate a practical development plan.
Internal review options
External review options
THINKING BOARD Evaluator
Short self-assessment questionnaires that provide an overview of Board and main committee performance
Guarantees secure, anonymous answers for respondents
Provides an automated, board-ready report
You handle administration
A cost-effective, standard-format board review solution
THINKING BOARD Supported
Fuller questionnaires covering the Board and committees
Question coverage and format can be adjusted to suit individual contexts
Friendly personal support to assist with setup and administration
Analysis of results by an experienced Independent Audit consultant
We’ll help you find the best solution for your specific needs
THINKING BOARD Plus
Questionnaires provide detailed assessment of the Board and committees
We work with you to adjust questions to ensure we achieve your objectives
Personal support and regular feedback throughout the review process
Supplemented by meeting observation and board paper review
We provide a full-length Independent Audit report that highlights areas of strength and suggests priorities for development
We’ll help you create a solution that achieves your Board’s objectives
The Thinking Board Library
Within the Thinking Board library, you’ll find a whole range of question sets designed to help you assess effectiveness across governance areas.
Group Thinking Board: specialist support
for subsidiary boards
Quick view heat maps support a drill down to each board so you can see what is happening at each subsidiary
Compare ratings, areas for improvement and comments for different boards across the group.
What our clients say about us
“We wanted our board review this year to build on the previous one and Thinking Board provided us with both like-for-like comparison and fresh content that covered new developments. The process was clear with excellent support and the report provided the board with valuable insights. The Independent Audit team were professional, experienced and very easy to work with”
“The tool Thinking Board was comprehensive, easy to use and encouraged directors to give useful comments and thoughts, not just respond to the questions. We wanted a straightforward process that gave us a thorough and independent evaluation, which Independent Audit delivered.”
“Independent Audit’s automated online platform was really easy to use and very efficient in terms of the minimal time required to administer. The generated report was very helpful in that, beyond fulfilling compliance needs, it stimulated a worthwhile board discussion. When you consider the amount of CoSec time saved, the simplicity of the process and the quality of the report, it really is excellent value for money and a significant improvement on anything we could undertake internally.“