Applying Competency-based Criteria to Committee Makeup and Education

By Barry S. Bader

More and more boards are adopting the practice of using competency-based criteria to select governing board members. They identify the subject areas and behavioral qualities needed from trustees and apply them to recruitment, orientation, leadership development, succession planning and periodic evaluation. We’ve discussed competency-based governance in previous issues of Great Boards and other publications from the AHA Center for Healthcare Governance and Trustee magazine.

Why stop there? A competency-based approach also can be applied to populate the board’s committees with individuals who possess the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to execute their responsibilities.