Whose Job Is It to Build a Board—and Monitor It?

It’s a simple question, but one too easily sidestepped: Whose job is it to build the board? And once it’s built—whose job is it to keep it effective?

Ask around and you’ll get a mix of answers:

• “The Chair.”

• “The CEO, with support.”

• “The NomCo.”

• “All of them, really.”

Which usually means: no one clearly owns it. And if no one owns it, it doesn’t get done properly—or strategically.

That’s a problem. Because in today’s FS landscape—regulated, reputationally sensitive, increasingly scrutinised—you don’t just have a board. You need a board that’s:

• Commercially astute

• Ethically sound

• Independent in thinking

• Collaborative in approach

• And yes—diverse in perspective, not just profile

But those kinds of boards don’t just land fully formed. They’re built, nurtured, challenged, and evolved. That takes leadership. And clarity.

It starts with the Chair—but doesn’t end there.

The Chair has a formal responsibility to lead board effectiveness. But the real question is: How seriously do they take it?

Too many boards run on legacy thinking:

• “We know who’s out there.”

• “We have succession in hand.”

• “We’ve got a good balance.”

But when you look under the bonnet, the reality often tells a different story:

• Overlapping experience rather than complementary challenge

• Underdeveloped succession pipelines

• “Safe” hires over strategic ones

• And NomCos that meet just enough to tick the governance box

So whose job is it, really?

It’s the Chair’s job to lead it.

It’s the NomCo’s job to interrogate it.

It’s the CEO’s job to support and enable it.

And it’s every board member’s job to engage in it—not just as custodians of governance, but as active shapers of the organisation’s future.

Because if your board isn’t evolving with the business, it’s holding the business back.

Monitoring effectiveness? That’s not just an annual box-tick either.

Board reviews can be powerful—when they’re honest, externally led, and used as a catalyst. But too often they’re:

• Light-touch

• Peer-reviewed (read: politely uncritical)

• Decoupled from actual board refreshment or succession

Monitoring board effectiveness isn’t about scoring 8/10 on a feedback form. It’s about asking: Is this the board we’d build today—if we were starting from scratch? And if not, what are we doing about it?

Final thought:

If you’re serious about performance, culture, risk, reputation—start with the board. Own it. Audit it. Challenge it. Build it like the future of your organisation depends on it. Because it does.