A short, confidential discussion. Typically ~20 minutes.
Trusted by boards of public, private, and nonprofit organizations
How Boardspan's Skills Analysis Works
Our multi-dimensional assessment maps director capabilities to your organization’s strategic goals, giving you clarity and direction as you build and evolve a value-adding board. With the Board Skills Analysis, you gain:
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Skills Matrix: Evaluate director knowledge and experience across industry, functional, and governance domains.
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Gap Analysis: Identify which critical skills are well covered and where gaps remain.
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Importance Weighting: Understand which skills matter most to board effectiveness.
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Committee Planning: Visualize director distribution across committee and chair roles for load balancing, availability, scenario planning.
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Tenure Map: Analyze collective director tenure to ensure appropriate balance of institutional knowledge and fresh perspective.
The result: Actionable insights and expert recommendations for your Nom & Gov Committee to strengthen board composition, recruitment, committee rotations, director development, and succession planning.
Considering a Board Skills Analysis?
See how Boardspan maps board expertise and identifies future gaps.
A short, confidential discussion. Typically ~20 minutes.
What boards often ask about Boardspan’s approach to analyzing board composition
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What does a Boardspan Board Skills Analysis evaluate?
A Boardspan Board Skills Analysis evaluates the board’s composition across industry experience, functional expertise, and board competencies, while also considering the independence, tenure, diversity, and committee structure of the board, all aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities.
Rather than simply cataloging current capabilities, the analysis compares existing expertise with areas directors identify as most important for the board’s future oversight, helping clarify where additional strength may be needed.
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How is this different from a traditional board skills matrix?
Traditional skills matrices typically provide a static snapshot of director backgrounds for disclosure purposes.
Boardspan’s approach adds a forward-looking assessment of how well current capabilities align with the board’s evolving oversight responsibilities, supported by structured director input and governance-advisor interpretation. The result helps boards move beyond documentation toward clearer composition priorities for recruitment and succession planning.
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How much time and effort is required from directors?
The process is designed to be efficient and minimally burdensome for directors.
Boardspan coordinates the skills review using existing disclosures where possible and supplements this with targeted director input through a structured survey. Most boards complete the full analysis within three to four weeks, with limited time required from individual directors.
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How does the analysis identify future capability needs, not just current skills?
In addition to mapping current expertise, directors assess the relative importance of key capabilities for the board’s future work.
Comparing these perspectives with existing strengths highlights areas where additional experience may support strategy oversight, succession planning, or emerging priorities. This helps boards develop a clearer view of how composition may evolve over time.
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How do boards typically use the results in succession and recruitment planning?
Boards commonly use the analysis to clarify director recruitment priorities, refreshment strategy, and committee composition planning.
The findings often inform discussions about upcoming transitions, future leadership needs, and how the board’s expertise should evolve alongside the organization’s strategy. Many boards also use the analysis to support proxy disclosure and demonstrate a structured approach to board composition.