Best Practices for an Active Board Member

Board members that bring the most value to a company’s board are very engaged. Below is a checklist to review to evaluate yourself or your current board members:

1. 

   Best Practices for an Active Board Member: Are you engaged?

   Do you know the business? This does not mean simply what management tells you, but having a deep understanding of how the company makes money, its operations, executives, challenges and opportunities. Have you done your own due-diligence?
2. Are you interested and invested in the business?
3. Do you always come prepared to board or committee meetings?
4. Do you have the best interest of the stakeholders of the business when you provide advice and votes on key resolutions?
5. How engaged are you in board and committee meetings, taking on assignments or debating challenging issues?
6. What activities are you involved with between board meetings to provide value to the company?
7. Are you available to the management team on an ad hoc basis to help with issues that come up between regular scheduled meetings?
8. Do you ask questions?  Even ones that you feel you should know the answers to?
9. Are you a positive example and promoter of the company in the community?

Last and most important,

10. Are you still relevant? Do you and can you provide relevant guidance and governance to the company as you have in the past?  Has the company outgrown you or evolved away from your expertise?