Raising the bar in the English Premier League
Challenge
Our client is an ambitious English Premier League Club. Having laid a strong foundation of good business management and community engagement and the Club has built a strong reputation as being well-run, leading-edge and a valuable contributor within footballing community. To build long-term sustainability the Club wanted to review raise the game for its Board and Board members. We were asked to run an independent Board evaluation and to lead a process of individual Board member feedback.
Approach
Our independent Board evaluation applied our tried and tested approach and included documentation review; gathering of feedback via questionnaire from the Board and Senior Management Team; 1-1 meetings with each Board member and senior manager; meetings with key stakeholders and Board observation.
The process we developed and led to facilitate Board member feedback was the first for the Club. We needed to build trust in the process (and ourselves as independent facilitators). The approach we took included:
- Developing with the Board a set of criteria that articulated the key requirements of each Board member and the Chair (what was expected and the behaviours needed)
- Agreeing a process that combined rating against these agreed criteria along with identification of particular strengths and areas for improvement.
- Compiling a report that captured all the feedback
- Preparing the Chair to hold 1-1 meetings with each Board member to review the feedback and agree a development plan
- Debriefing the Chair’s feedback with him directly.
Outcome
We have been able to agree with the Board an action plan that will be implemented and each Board member has a development plan. More importantly there is confidence in the approach used and commitment to continue to develop Board effectiveness. As the Chair wrote:
“Mightywaters quickly understood what made us tick as a Club and have developed trusted relationships with Board members and other key stakeholders. They have helped us understand our strengths and we now have an action plan to take forward as a Board and individually. What I have really valued about Mightywaters is their friendliness and reliability alongside their obvious knowledge of their subject based on their experience. This was the first time we had worked with external consultants on these areas. It has been a really positive experience!”
