Items to Include:

The board should establish in policy the elements of new director orientation, the person/officer charged with providing/coordinating it and a deadline following appointment to the board by which it shall have been completed.

The following is a suggested list of elements for a new director orientation:

• Review articles of incorporation, bylaws, board policies including personnel policies
• Review strategic plan, including strategic (market) and internal strengths and weaknesses assessment with opportunity to ask questions of CEO
• Review current budget and recent financial statements with opportunity to ask questions of CEO or CFO
• Most recent audit
• Tour of operations
• Review of minutes of board meetings for the past year
• Review of committee charters
• Meetings with CEO, CFO and other members of top management as appropriate
• Review of due diligence reports on recent investments
• Strategic plans and financial statements of any subsidiaries
• Review of trend data on operations (e.g. Balanced Scorecard) used by the board to evaluate performance
• Review of most recent evaluation completed on CEO performance
• Review of any external assessments of the organization, e.g. audits, review by funding agencies, consultant reports, regulatory or certification reviews
• Briefings on any pending legal matters that pose a potential liability
• Review of any available recent customer satisfaction data

This is not intended as a definitive or exhaustive list but rather food for thought as you develop your own requirements to bring new directors up to speed.