Has it clearly articulated its expectations about the outcomes or results the organisation should deliver?
Is the vision a widely shared one that is sustainable by future boards or is it dependent largely on the thinking and energy of one person.
In what type of deliberations is your board primarily engaged – those that relate to designing the future or those that relate to minding the shop?
Does your board have a simple, brief document that sets out its sense of strategic direction, priorities, etc.?
Stakeholder relations
Who are your ‘owners’ and how does the board express its accountability to them?
Have you defined the organisation’s other key stakeholders and how the board expects the organisation to relate to them?
Does the board treat all stakeholder issues in the same way or does it have a clear sense of which issues and which relationships are really important?
Strategic risk management
Does the board regularly and systematically review the risks facing the organisation?
Has it clearly agreed and communicated the level of risk it is prepared to tolerate in relation to critical organisational performance factors?
Does it have clear policies in place that define boundaries within which the chief executive can operate without further reference to the board?
Is the board satisfied there are contingency plans in place to deal with risks that cannot be controlled or mitigated?