By: Heather Kelsall, Senior Governance Analyst

You may not make it to the gym past January but set some new year’s resolutions with your board and you might just surprise yourselves come 2020.

Here are 5 ideas to start the conversation:

1. Act on Diversity

Start by defining what your board means by diversity and what a diverse board might look like in your context, then build diversity considerations into your skills matrix.

2. Educate Yourselves

The world is rapidly changing, and boards must be ahead of this change. Make a plan to educate your board and individual directors on governance and emerging issues and ensure your board is equipped to govern in a climate of complexity and disruption.

3. Check in on CEO Succession

If you haven’t yet had the conversation, this is the year to put it on your board calendar. No matter where your CEO is at in their tenure, it’s never too early to plan for the future, understand the talent pipeline and develop potential successors.

4. Understand Your Board Culture

Signal the importance of culture by looking inwards and assessing the board’s culture. Seek to understand how directors view the board’s culture and identify ways to sustain or improve culture for the benefit of the
organization.

5. Evaluate Something New

Tired of filling out the same rote board evaluation survey every year? This may be the year to finally introduce a peer evaluation process, take a deep dive on committee performance, or conduct a targeted evaluation of your board’s renewal practices.

What are your 2019 governance resolutions?