Interior view of a modern shopping mall with escalators, people walking, and seating areas, seen from above with a snippet of the Harper Webb logo over the top.

Harper Webb conducts independent reviews of board effectiveness

  • We look for the good things your board does,

  • We identify the skills you have and the way you deploy them

  • We harness your potential to build on your strengths and to hold on to them in future

  • We work with you to help you explore ways to step up your governance and improve outcomes

  • We give you practical suggestions for change

One size doesn’t fit all 

We’ve observed dozens of boards in action and seen great performance along with the not so great, innovative approaches and the same old.  Most boards have a bit of both.

There’s no magic formula because all boards are different.  They have differing roles and responsibilities and work in differing regulatory landscapes. Ultimately, boards are made up of humans with a vast range of personalities and styles, backgrounds and experiences. 

And that makes your board unique.

In each project, we take what you do and build on it. We explain to you the approaches we’ve seen working well at other boards. And we discuss with you how you can adopt new practices in your context and in your way.

We don’t dictate or lecture.

Interior view of a modern shopping mall with escalators, people walking, and seating areas, seen from above with a snippet of the Harper Webb logo over the top.

What is an effective board?

Based on over 100 board reviews, we’ve developed the Harper Webb model to help us structure our evaluations of boards – and to help you think about the performance of your board.

LEADERSHIP

  • Chair

  • CEO

  • Non-executives

  • Management team

Learn more

DECISIONS

  • Strategy

  • Project oversight

  • Culture

  • Finance & Risk

  • Remuneration

STAKEHOLDERS

Employees
Management
Customers
Partners & Suppliers
Owners & Shareholders
Communities
Regulators

DYNAMICS

  • Board culture

  • Quality of debate

  • Support / Challenge

  • Strength of relations

  • Resilience

EFFICIENCY

  • Secretariat

  • Time management

  • Quality of information

  • Action tracking

  • Committees

Our first article is about the leadership dimension. We’re starting by considering the performance of the person most critical to a well-functioning board: the Chair

Featured
The board’s oversight of projects
The board’s oversight of projects

Boards often struggle to debate major projects before it’s too late. This article explores how they can add value to the early stages of project planning — and help turn big ideas into real successes.

Getting the best from the Chair of the board 
Getting the best from the Chair of the board 

The Chair is the leader of the Board, and he or she is critical to the Board working well. But how do you ensure the Chair is working well? 

What does the board evaluation involve?

This is the process we typically follow for a board performance review:

1.1 Finalise scope
& agree

  • project roles

  • timing

  • participants

1 DATA GATHERING

2 FIELD WORK

2.1 Gather views
via interviews or questionnaires

  • board members

  • executive team

  • advisors

  • stakeholders

2.2 Observe
board & committee meetings

2.3 Assess
quality of board information

3 REPORTING

3.1 Analyse
data & systematise views

3.2 Report
with concise, practical, constructive suggestions

4 ACTION & CHANGE

4.1 Facilitate
board discussion to reach agreement on actions

4.2 Support
implementation of changes

KEY OUTCOMES

Comprehensive stakeholder perspective through multi-source data gathering

Evidence-based assessment combining observation and information analysis

Clear, actionable recommendations delivered through structured reporting

Facilitated consensus building and practical implementation support

Additional services

Below are some of the additional services we’ve provided to our clients

Silhouetted man in business suit standing on a balcony overlooking a modern architectural interior with bronze-coloured curved railing, brick wall, and large windows.

  • We help you by:

    • Assessing the performance of your ExCo 

    • Looking at the effectiveness of its decision making

    • Considering its composition, dynamics, remit, agendas, support and information  

    • Suggesting ways to improve its linkages with the Board and committees

  • We help you by:

    • establishing the mix of skills, knowledge and profiles needed in board members

    • identifying current coverage and gaps

    • planning for future succession 

  • We help you by:

    • assessing the quality of your board papers

    • reviewing your processes for producing board packs

    • developing templates for your context

    • providing concise guidance and training for report writers and presenters

  • We help you by:

    • assessing the governance and/or remuneration sections in your annual report

    • identifying ways you can make your reporting more concise, informative and engaging

    • providing detailed redrafting

Lush green terraced ruins on a hill under blue sky with wispy clouds.