Once a year, your Board of Governors (BOG) should turn the mirror on itself. This guide gives the BOG Chairman a simple, repeatable process — plus a ready-to-use worksheet — for facilitating an honest annual self-assessment of the Chairman, Chapter Advisor, and Financial Advisor roles, and of the board as a whole.
For: BOG Chairmen (and the BOG members they lead).
When: Once a year, at a consistent point in your board's calendar — many boards do this right before or right after chapter officer transition.
In this article:
Why the annual self-assessment matters
How the four-step process works
What the assessment covers
Tips for facilitating the group discussion
The downloadable worksheet
Why this matters
A BOG that only reviews the chapter never turns that same scrutiny on itself. Over time, that creates blind spots: meetings that gather people but don't accomplish much, advisors who are present but not actually helping, and a board that hasn't asked itself hard questions in years. An annual self-assessment builds a culture of continuous improvement — for the chapter, and for the volunteers who support it.
✅ Best practice — Treat this as routine board business, not a crisis response. Boards that only self-assess after something goes wrong miss the chance to catch small issues early.
How the process works
The self-assessment runs in four steps. As Chairman, you own scheduling it and facilitating step three — everything else is a light lift for the rest of the board.
1. Schedule and distribute
Pick a date on the board's calendar and send every BOG member the worksheet at least a week ahead. Ask them to complete it before the meeting, not during it — reflection is better done alone first.
2. Individual reflection
Each BOG member rates the items and answers the open questions on their own. This surfaces honest impressions before groupthink sets in.
3. Group discussion
The full board meets to compare notes, focusing on where ratings differ and on the hard questions. This is the heart of the process — see the facilitation tips below.
4. Commit and follow up
Before the meeting ends, agree on two or three concrete action items with an owner and a date. Revisit them at your next regular BOG meeting, not just next year.
📅 Deadline — Put next year's self-assessment on the calendar before you adjourn this year's. Boards that don't schedule it in advance tend to let it slip.
What the assessment covers
The worksheet walks the board through six areas. Each has a handful of rated statements (1–5 scale) plus a reflection question — full detail is in the downloadable worksheet.
Area | What it looks at |
Chairman | Setting direction, running productive meetings, holding the board accountable |
Chapter Advisor | Presence at chapter events, mentorship of the executive officers, responsiveness |
Financial Advisor | Oversight of chapter finances, support for the treasurer, early warning on risk |
Collective Board Operations | Attendance, agendas, follow-through, onboarding new members, board/volunteer succession planning |
Collective Board Communication | How well the board communicates with each other, with HQ, and with the chapter |
Collective Engagement with the Chapter | Whether the board is visible and proactive with the executive officers and the chapter, not just reactive |
The worksheet closes with the questions every board should ask itself out loud at least once a year:
Are we showing up?
Are we actually helping?
Where are we falling short?
Facilitating the group discussion
Your job as Chairman is to keep the conversation honest without letting it become a blame session. A few things help:
☐ Open by naming the purpose: this is about improving, not grading anyone
☐ Share your own ratings first, including areas where you scored yourself low
☐ Ask "why" when ratings differ between members — the gap is often more useful than the number
☐ Give every hard question real air time before moving to solutions
☐ End with action items, owners, and dates — not just a good conversation
💡 Tip — If the conversation stalls, ask each member to share the one item they rated lowest and why. It's an easy way to surface what people are hesitant to bring up on their own.
⚠️ Watch out — Don't let the discussion turn into a review of the chapter instead of the board. It's easy to drift into "the chapter should…" — redirect back to "what should we, as the Board of Directors, do differently?"
Templates & downloads
BOG Annual Self-Assessment Worksheet (Word) — the fillable worksheet referenced throughout this article, including all rating items, reflection questions, and an action-planning table.
FAQ
Do we need a facilitator outside the board?
No — the Chairman typically facilitates. If the board anticipates a difficult conversation (for example, following a serious chapter issue), it can ask a Phi Kappa Tau staff member to help facilitate instead.
What if a BOG role is currently vacant?
Skip that section's ratings and note the vacancy as an action item — an unfilled Chapter Advisor or Financial Advisor role is itself something the self-assessment should flag.
How long should the group discussion take?
Plan for 60–90 minutes. A rushed discussion tends to skip the hard questions in favor of the easy ones.
Should the chapter's executive officers see the results?
The worksheet itself is for the board's internal use, but sharing the resulting action items with the chapter president is a good practice — it shows the board holds itself accountable too.
What if the board finds it's falling short in several areas?
That's a normal outcome, not a failure of the process. Prioritize two or three action items rather than trying to fix everything at once, and loop in Phi Kappa Tau HQ if the board wants support.
Questions? Contact your Chapter Services Consultant
Last reviewed: September 2026