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Board Recruitment
and Assessment

The roles and tasks of the board of directors are changing.

Boards of leading companies are now actively involved in developing strategies and plans, as well as setting the framework for the company’s activities and maintaining an overview. The board of director’s responsibilities and roles are clarified in legislation as well as guidelines such as those provided by the Norwegian Corporate Governance Board (NUES). In general, it can be said that each board’s responsibilities have become more extensive and there are greater risks relating to the company’s reputation and financial development.

How to choose the right board

These factors mean that the board must have broad and in-depth expertise that enables it to address the challenges the company encounters. Board recruitment and assessment are important factors to ensure successful value creation, and BackerSkeie has broad experience in finding the right candidates and assessing how a board functions.

The following are important factors to address in this process:

Does the composition of the board comply with the company’s strategy?
How should the board work more efficiently to achieve better results?
How robust is your board compared to the boards of your competitors?
Are you recruiting the best chairman available in the market?
Can the board effectively support international growth, acquisitions or a stock exchange listing?

Read more about BackerSkeie’s approach to board recruitment here and board assessment here.

Are you in need of assistance for board recruitment and assessment?

Contact one of our experienced consultants to find out how we can help you.

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Case

Our board consisted of broad expertise and long experience. It is an international board which has members from the entire world. As a listed company, we intended to follow NUES’s guidelines for good corporate governance, recommending regular board evaluations, including external evaluations. In particular we were pleased with BackerSkeie’s ability to translate our contributions in the evaluation to specific improvement points we could work on.

Chairman of the board of a listed international energy company

I was about to leave the board after several years as the chairman of the board. In order to provide the new chairman, the best possible basis in the start-up, and to map the lack of competence before entering into a board recruitment, we chose to conduct a board evaluation lead by BackerSkeie. The members of the board considered the evaluation as good and comprehensive. The results were presented in an understandable and proper way. Throughout the evaluation, we discovered several more points of improvement that the new chairman of the board could address immediately, while also receiving assessment of the composition of competence including information regarding what kind of competence were lacking. This gap in skills got covered by the board in the new recruitment that was done shortly after.

Chairman of a family-owned production company of construction materials

After a long period with conflicts within the board, and between the board and the management, we decided to conduct a board evaluation. BackerSkeie entered as a unbiased third part and was quickly mapping the challenges within the board, after both qualitative and quantitative studies. Both me as a chairman, as well as the remaining board, experienced BackerSkeie’s advisors being able to point out the most important challenges. We were presented with the results, which included several concrete ways of improvement in a pedagogical and reasonable manner. The ways of improvement we were presented with, contained everything from minor details to including suggestions for major structural changes in the board’s working method.

Chairman of a large government-owned company

A new ownership structure lead, in accordance with the shareholder agreement, to the appointment of an independent chairman of the board, rather than an internal chairman. We needed a solid chairman who could formalize board work and ensure professionalism. Therefore, it was necessary with both previous board experience and expertise from the business. BackerSkeie quickly found several potential candidates with the crucial competence. We are very satisfied with both the process as well as the selected candidate.

Representative of largest owner in real estate company

The Nomination committee identified the need to hire a candidate for the board with expertise from the business and also competence regarding risk- and project management. We knew of very few candidates that could fit this description. Therefore, we chose to have BackerSkeie conducting the board recruitment for us. BackerSkeie quickly found several potential candidates, meeting both us and the main shareholders. We hired a solid candidate having long experience from the industry, and we are very satisfied with the recruitment process.

Chairman of the nomination committee of a listed oil service company

BackerSkeie was recommended to us by acquaintances who had completed a board recruitment with the help of BackerSkeie. The board recruitment had been very successful, and we therefore chose to do the same ourselves. For us, it was essential to be challenged on what kind of expertise the board needed, given our future plans and strategy. BackerSkeie challenged us and we had a good understanding of the job specification. Our need was primarily to further professionalize the board work, and BackerSkeie found several talented candidates. We chose the best one and are very satisfied with her contribution in the board so far.

Owner of a family-owned production company of construction materials

Board Recruitment
and Assessment

How to choose the right board

Are you in need of assistance for board recruitment and assessment?

Case

Related Consultant

Cato Backer

Knut Ole Tande

Board Recruitment

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