CEO Performance Review & Evaluation Tool

BoardOutlook’s CEO 360 is flexible feedback framework designed specifically for the CEO.

One of the most important aspects of the Board’s role is oversight of the performance of the CEO. Using the CEO 360 framework ensures better feedback, delivered faster – for the benefit of the CEO, the board and the organisation as a whole.

Comprehensive coverage of all key areas of CEO performance

The CEO 360 framework covers all of the most critical elements of the CEO role. Feedback areas include leadership on strategy, delivering results, leading the executive team, leadership style, leading the culture, driving change and transformation, building talent and capability, stakeholder relationships and partnering with the board.

The framework also includes a range of questions designed to ensure alignment between board, management and CEO on short and medium-term priorities moving forward. Questions can be customised to challenges that are specific to the organisation or CEO.

A foundation of data to drive better conversations

At all levels, feedback conversations can be difficult and are easily side-tracked by opinions and emotions. The CEO performance conversation is no different.

Avoiding these speed bumps is one of the best reasons to use a standardised framework. The CEO 360 tool ensures that there is a rigorous foundation for the feedback conversation. Rather than the CEO second guessing specific feedback, the discussion has a clear foundation of data and can focus on next steps.

The end result is the CEO has a clear picture of where they stand, and the Board can demonstrate their grasp of the breadth and complexity of the CEO role which together build a stronger foundation for a more open and transparent relationship between the CEO and the Board.

Respondents spend less time and cover more topics than in a face-to-face format

In providing feedback on the CEO, the greatest challenge is the breadth of the role. There are so many areas that the CEO is directly or indirectly responsible for. Traditional feedback discussions can do a poor job in covering a wide range of topics – not all of which may be front of mind for an individual.

The CEO 360 is a more efficient way to cover off on the full range of topics which sit inside the CEO performance remit than a traditional interview process. The structured framework ensures that all areas of the CEO role are covered through an iterative process that invites deeper consideration. For directors and the management team, it provides a significantly more efficient process.

End-to-end automation saves days of time for the chair, and delivers faster feedback

Delivering meaningful yet constructive CEO feedback is one of the most time consuming challenges for the chair. Collecting and synthesising feedback is a difficult task that can take multiple months to deliver using a face-to-face process.

Activities in running a traditional face-to-face CEO feedback process include:

Process planning
Stakeholder involvement and logistics (across board and management)
Designing and conducting well structured interviews
Iteration between the CEO and other stakeholders
Follow up and clarification
Synthesising notes and formalising into a report for board discussion
Designing and delivering a formal feedback session with the CEO.

When things get busy, the sheer amount of time required can mean a more perfunctory feedback or a process that doesn’t involve the full set of stakeholders.

These tasks also often take months to deliver, meaning that feedback is dated or less relevant by the time it is delivered to the CEO. The BoardOutlook CEO 360 accelerates the insight, delivering full reporting within weeks. Using the CEO 360 framework ensures better feedback, delivered faster – for the benefit of the CEO, the board and the organisation as a whole.

An exercise that’s valuable for the CEO

Few things are more frustrating for the CEO than shallow or inconsistent feedback from the board. Whether good or bad, it is critically important the CEO has a clear picture of where they stand. The CEO 360 is a strong framework that ensures a consistent and insightful set of outcomes for both CEO and board.

The CEO has the most difficult job in the organisation, and using a comprehensive feedback process shows the CEO that the board understands the breadth and complexity of these challenges. This builds the foundation for a more open relationship between board and CEO as the organisation confronts challenges moving forward.

Standardised but flexible

CEO 360 provides a standardised framework to collect data anonymously and will take 30-45 minutes to complete. The framework also provides a significant degree of flexibility and customisation:

Designed to be completed by the CEO, Board and management, it can also be extended to include important external stakeholders
Questions can be customised to respond to the role and challenges faced by the organisation and/or CEO.
The reporting structure is fully customisable to allow access to the entire Board or a select group of individuals

A comprehensive report, without days of preparation

The CEO 360 produces a comprehensive report integrating the CEO’s self-assessment with external assessments from management and board. The BoardOutlook reporting engine ensures this is ready in hours, not days, without the need for anyone to integrate responses.

To ensure confidentiality and trust, all non-CEO commentary is presented on an anonymous (nameless) basis. The reporting structure is fully customisable, to allow access to the report to the entire board or limit to just a select group of individuals.

Beautiful reporting, instantly

Instantly release beautiful reports in PDF or online, without the hassle and risk of powerpoint or excel. Use interactive online reports or download detailed PDF reporting and summaries to include in your board pack.

Confidentiality and security by design

Traditional board review processes introduce substantial confidentiality risks through data collection and compilation of results. BoardOutlook eliminates the risks of uncontrolled and unencrypted digital and physical artefacts that increase the risk of inadvertent data breach. Using BoardOutlook gives your board the protection of end-to-end security and encryption, supported by annual audits and penetration tests.

Automatic follow up and workflow management

BoardOutlook provides end-to-end workflow management to ensure a hassle free board review processes. The BoardOutlook platform automates follow-ups and reporting, saving days of time and hassle.

Customised to your board

All BoardOutlook templates are customised through the onboarding process, with specifics such as your committee structure, stakeholders and operating units. If required, you have full flexibility to customise questions and template structure. Add or remove questions and change wording to focus on specific areas of most relevance.

Questions that generate real performance discrimination

Many of the traditional questions used in board evaluations get answered the same way by good and bad boards alike. BoardOutlook uses a set of tested qualitative and quantitative questions that are evidence based, and in a format that is difficult to 'game', getting to the heart of performance quickly.

Fast deployment and turnaround (live in hours, reports in weeks)

BoardOutlook has no integrations, which allows rapid deployment (your organisation can be live within hours). Automated reminders, report generation and workflow management mean board review processes are completed in weeks, not months.

A superior user experience designed for boards

BoardOutlook is designed specifically for the unique challenges of board users. The platform is built around beautiful surveys and deep reports designed just for the challenges of boards. All of this means directors find the platform intuitive and enjoyable to use. The full BoardOutlook toolkit (surveys, reporting and skills matrix) is usable with full functionality on phone, tablet or desktop. Perfect for busy directors on the go.

Specifically designed to drive director development

High-performing boards start with high-performing individuals with strong self awareness. The BoardOutlook platform allows boards to move from regulatory requirement to a true development exercise.

Include your management team

BoardOutlook enables you to take a broader view of governance performance, including the management team (without traditional cost or scheduling barriers). Reporting is segmented to enable easy understanding of the consistency and variance between board and management.

Track year-on-year improvement

Traditional board performance can be a once a year event. BoardOutlook allows your board to move to a longitudinal process of ongoing performance improvement. The board can easily track change and improvement over time.

Support when you need it

Real support, when you need it. Our team of highly qualified governance experts is here to help you succeed every step of the way, with support available via phone and email.

Flexible plans to suit your board

Choose the plan that suits your board's size and the level of support you require. Boards always have the option to leverage a highly experienced facilitator in partnership with the BoardOutlook diagnostic. Many boards choose to use BoardOutlook as their default ‘internal’ review solution, with external facilitators providing a view on results as required.

CEO 360