• How can a board benefit from participating in self-assessment?
• How often should a board conduct a self-assessment?

Q: There are many other similar board evaluation tools available (e.g., Accreditation Canada tools). Why should my board use the OHA’s tool? A: Partaking in regular governance assessments is good practice for boards. How this is done is up to individual boards. Many hospitals and health care providers use their own self-assessment tool, while some use externally provided tools from consultants or Accreditation Canada. Since many hospital boards already reference the Guide to Good Governance to address their management of governance issues, the OHA decided to leverage this existing resource by designing a complementary board self-assessment tool. The tool was specifically developed to meet the needs of hospitals and the health care sector in a rapidly changing environment that demands heightened accountability. While no single tool is applicable to all boards or situations, the OHA tool provides the following benefits to those who decide to make it part of their governance assessment process: • It is geared to governance in the health sector • Each participating board is provided with a confidential report on the performance of the board as seen by its members While the OHA’s tool is not intended to duplicate existing survey procedures that may be working well for a board, it is anticipated that many boards – particularly those currently without a self-evaluation process – will find the tool beneficial.

INTENDED AUDIENCE Q: Is the tool applicable to non-hospital healthcare organizations? A: The Hospital tool was developed primarily to complement the Guide to Good Governance, a guide intended for use by public hospitals. However, the OHA also offers a a Not-For-Profit tool which complements The Guide to Good Governance: Not-for-Profit and Charitable Organizations (2009). Q: Should the Board Chair, CEO, Chief of Staff or other ex officio board members participate? A: It is recommended that the questionnaire be completed by all board members, including ex officio members. Q: Should new board members participate? A: Board members need sufficient exposure to the board’s functioning to provide useful input. Normally, if a member has been on the board for less than about six months, the individual should be asked to wait until a future board assessment opportunity. Each board should address this question when they decide to use the tool. COMPLETING THE QUESTIONNAIRE Q: How long does the self-assessment take to complete? A: The assessment is an online, survey-type questionnaire that takes about 20 minutes to complete. Participants can preview the full survey (in PDF format) before starting and assess how long they think they will need to complete it. Q: Can I complete the questionnaire in segments, saving sections as I go and return to complete my responses at a later time? A: The questionnaire must be completed in one sitting. Partial responses cannot be saved; therefore, participants are encouraged to first preview the tool (in PDF format). Once a questionnaire has been started, it will record a response. Participants should ensure they have about 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Q: What is the process for acquiring and completing the OHA Board Self-Assessment Tool? A: Every board should assign one representative to serve as the OHA’s primary contact. To begin, the primary contact must register for the appropriate survey at https://www.oha.com/learning. The survey is complimentary to all OHA members. To waive the registration fee simply enter the survey promo code provided by the OHA. Registrants will receive a unique survey link for the board within 5 business days to be forwarded to the rest of the board. Once the assessment is completed, the OHA will aggregate and tabulate the results, and format them into an easy-to-read report that can be distributed to board members through the primary contact they have chosen. Q: Who should lead the self-assessment process? A: Either the Board Chair, the Governance Committee or its Chair, typically leads the self-assessment process, assisted by the Corporate Secretary. This role involves communicating with the OHA, reminding board members to complete the questionnaire and answering questions that arise. RESULTS AND REPORT Q: What information will be displayed in the report of my board’s results? Will individual responses be shown? A: The report will contain the board’s average score as well as province-wide average scores, for each assessment criterion. The OHA does not reveal raw data entries or the results of any individual members. All reports will only contain aggregated data of the board. Q: What OHA supports are available for the analysis of the self-assessment results? A: Participating boards receive a report of their board’s results and a handbook on how to develop a governance action plan based on the self-assessment results. Q: How can my board use the results of the board self-assessment? A: The output of the assessment is intended to focus discussion among board members regarding the development of objectives and priorities for governance development. The tool should be used along with the Guide to Good Governance, which provides a comprehensive overview of the key components of good governance practices, as well as templates and tools to implement and support these practices. Boards may use the results in a variety of ways to improve its governance going forward, including: • The Governance Committee or the entire board can identify objectives and priorities for governance development over the next year based on the areas of board performance that are the strongest and those that need improvement • The board can discuss the results and implications of the report at a board retreat or at special sessions on governance • The results may enable different views from multiple perspectives to emerge, which can be used as a starting point for discussions • Results and improvements can be benchmarked and tracked over time GENERAL QUESTIONS Q: How was the OHA Board Self-Assessment tool developed? A: Since the tool was developed to complement the Guide to Good Governance, the OHA collaborated with the guide’s principal authors, Anne Corbett of Borden Ladner Gervais and Jim Mackay of Berkeley Consulting Group, to design the most effective questionnaire possible. Throughout various stages of its development, input was sought from experienced health care board members, as well as the OHA Advisory Group, comprised of health care leaders and governance experts. Q: Is this tool mandated for hospitals or health system use? A: No. The tool supports governance improvement efforts on a voluntary basis. Q: What are the risks of participating in a self-assessment? A: Participating boards should recognize from the outset that the tool supports a board development process based on collective opinions. It is not a true report card. Therefore, overreacting to feedback can be a risk. At the same time, underreacting can also be a risk. Opinions expressed in the questionnaire reflect individual directors’ perceptions, which create a reality. Boards receiving negative feedback need to act either to clarify the perceptions or change a situation to make it better.