5 Critical Board Engagement Survey Questions

In the hustle and bustle of professional and personal life, it’s easy for board members to become disengaged. And disengaged board members prove detrimental to their organizations. But a buzzword like engagement — no matter how crucial — can be hard to measure. 

We recommend conducting a board engagement survey to gain a real-time snapshot of board member engagement, as well as feedback for how your business can better engage and empower board members. 

On board? If so, read on to learn 5 critical board engagement survey questions to ask your board members. 

What is a Board Engagement Survey? 

A board engagement survey is a questionnaire that solicits feedback from board members in order to measure their engagement, accountability, effectiveness, and transparency. Surveys are one of the best ways to measure board effectiveness, because they offer an open and anonymous communication channel. 

Top Board Engagement Survey Questions

A survey’s effectiveness heavily depends on its content.  Learn what questions matter most in a board engagement survey.

1. Do You Understand Your Role as a Board Member? 

Engaged board members clearly understand their roles. Rather than only providing “yes” or “no” as options, consider including a scale in which respondents can rate their understanding of their roles. This helps you know which board members require a little bit of coaching versus which ones might need a lot more clarity and guidance. 

2. How Would You Rate the Board’s Effectiveness? 

This question provides insight into:

• Effectiveness of board structure 
• Competence of board members to lead the organization in the right direction
• Board’s commitment to the organization’s overall vision and culture

If most responses are negative, you may need to improve your board structure, provide training, or seek out an advisory board. 

3. How Would You Rate the Board Meetings? 

Board meetings should be effective and efficient. A low rating of board meetings shows room for improvement, such as:

• More organized and structured agendas
• Better agenda time management to keep meetings on task
• Focus on the most important discussion topics, which can be discovered with engagement analytics

4. What Challenges Do You Face in Your Role? 

This question helps unearth hidden problems board members face. However, make sure the question is open-ended to allow for honesty and avoid restricting board members to predetermined choices that may prevent them from sharing other real challenges they face. 

5. How Might We Improve Board Engagement? 

This open-ended question allows board members to provide insight that can help take board engagement to the next level. You may consider including questions about specific times, dates, meeting length preferences, and availability since the COVID-19 pandemic changed calendars and priorities for so many people. 

Improve Board Engagement With OnBoard

Surveys help CEOs and leaders hear from less vocal board members. By asking direct, kind, and thoughtful questions with surveys, boards gain critical insights and knowledge they may not have otherwise received. Ultimately, this information allows boards to continue to evolve and serve their organizations

OnBoard simplifies survey building and administration, and also centralizes survey feedback into one single and secure source for easy information retrieval and access. This structure speeds up decision-making to impact board engagement and operations.

Ready to see how OnBoard improves board engagement? Request a free trial today.