Custom Solutions For Your Business
At Satori, we understand that the road to good governance is a journey and that no two Boards are ever at the same point in that journey. Being a good Director is not just about showing up. A good director understands their obligations, fiduciary responsibility, and their ultimate role at the board table. Boards that strive to continually improve their governance framework achieve better results.
With this in mind, we customize our services to your business, ensuring your needs are truly understood. With over 20 years experience, we work internationally with Boards of all sizes from not for profit to corporate, helping Boards be stronger and more effective. We focus on best practices, board education, Board governance evaluations, and board succession and recruitment. In addition, in support of the Board and CEO relationship, we provide guidance and hands-on support for CEO evaluations and CEO recruitment.
Since 2004, Satori has teamed up with Boards of all sizes, both not-for-profit to for profit, to elevate their governance role. This is accomplished by customizing Board assessments, providing coaching, training and governance reviews, and by assisting with CEO reviews to ensure that the foundation and communication is strong and governance rises above operations.
Choose With Confidence
“Think of the Board as sitting in the crow’s nest on the main mast of a ship with a view to the future, while the CEO and staff work in the day to day of steering the ship. We believe that the Board’s role is strategic oversight and risk, and that they should be spending 70% of Board meetings focused on strategy and risk-based discussions, and 30% on operational components.”
Board Governance Evaluations
High performing Boards continually challenge themselves to be better.
The work completed by Satori Consulting in the governance zone spans a multitude of practice areas from policy reviews to education, to coaching, to Board governance evaluations. We believe that the true DIFFERENTIATOR of a strong governance Board is their belief in using assessments as a tool to learn and grow.
Creating and maintaining a High Performing Board
A high performing Board has the right blend of directors, who work as a team and provide the knowledge, skills, and viewpoints that support the company’s strategic goals and risk tolerance. A high performing, in tune Board, is a true strategic asset.
A high performing Board has the following attributes:
Board governance evaluations and assessments are a best practice in governance and are the tools used to ensure that the Board is working together effectively and is truly operating as a governance Board.
Open-minded and forward-thinking Boards view Board evaluations as an integral tool in the Board governance toolkit. A toolkit that, if administered well, can open lines of communication, build stronger teams, and attract skilled and highly competent future Board members.
Feedback is Important but Often Feared
Giving constructive feedback can be difficult and is often avoided in business, and in the boardroom. It is avoided for many reasons, but one big reason is that people tend to believe that being critical of someone else can erode relationships. However, the opposite is actually accurate. Not giving constructive feedback can and will be detrimental to relationships, and to overall Board effectiveness. The reality is that well-intentioned feedback can be the impetus for positive change and will weave a solid foundation of trust and communication.
Board Governance Evaluation Methods: Board governance evaluations can assess many aspects of the Board from overall effectiveness to Board and Committee Chair effectiveness, to individual, peer, and committee effectiveness. Depending on the specifics and required outcomes, we use a variety of the methods to conduct Board governance evaluations:
We listen to your needs and choose an evaluation method or a combination of methods to suit your needs, but rest assured our commitment to integrity and confidentiality is paramount to the success of all our evaluation programs.
Peer Evaluations: Our approach to peer evaluations is simple. They are confidential, using a coaching-centric approach that focuses on improving individual directors and the Board as a whole.
The confidential process allows fellow directors to provide their perspective on how each director contributes to the Board’s success, the strengths and areas of weakness of both the Board and of each individual director. The Satori process strengthens a Boards performance through coaching, action plans, and accountability.
Board Succession: Most Boards recognize the importance of CEO succession planning. They spend a great deal of time and rigor creating processes that secure and nurture top talent for that inevitable day when the CEO spot becomes available. However, in contrast, most Boards spend little, if any, time planning their own succession and assessing the composition of the Board today and its needs in the future.
Board stability is important, however, through retirement, sudden exits or as dictated by the by-laws, changes to a Board’s make-up are inevitable. Good governance suggests that Boards take an proactive approach to board succession. Keeping a Board competency matrix up to date will help support the competencies, skills, and experiences required at any given time and provide a framework for Board recruitment. The skills matrix helps Boards review the skills of present and future board members based on the future needs of organization and select Board members that are most qualified. Succession and choosing the right Board members to govern for the future is not an easy task and requires rigor and courage make the right decisions for the organization.
At Satori we often sit as non-voting members of the nomination committee to help with the interview process and selection of new Board members.
CEO Reviews
Many Boards are moving to a governance committee structure that includes a HR committee that has true HR expertise to help create a CEO appraisal process from the evaluation to compensation. However, more often that not Boards do not have the skills needed to address this important aspect of their role. At Satori we support many not-for-profit and for-profit Boards by facilitating the CEO assessment and coaching the Board/ committee in communicating the assessment and in determining appropriate compensation. We also ensure policies reflect the proper processes.
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About Satori Consulting Inc.
Satori Consulting Inc. is a leading Canadian owned business management consulting and leadership development firm, based in Dundas, Ontario. Being based in Ontario works well for our team, but we are also national and global in scope, providing management consulting services from coast to coast within Canada and internationally.
We bring a unique, cross-disciplinary approach to our clients’ challenges, ensuring the right balance of expertise, real world experience, and best practices in business analytics, strategic planning, board governance, organizational effectiveness, executive coaching, executive recruitment and leadership development.
Providing expertise in credit union consulting, insurance industry knowledge, academia (coaching and teaching), general business management solutions, leadership development and team building – Satori Consulting Inc. offers all Everything DiSC® products along with many other personality assessments. SCI is passionate about management consulting and partnering with clients that want change.