A Thinking Board® administrator configures your review based on the participant list you send us. You choose the questionnaire scope — board, committee or a combination. No technical knowledge is needed.
Participants receive a secure, personalised email with a unique access link. No account creation is required. It's easy to use — and there's a video explainer too. The interface is clean, guided and operates across different devices. Most respondents complete a review in under 20 minutes.
Thinking Board® uses a unique question structure. For each question, respondents first consider a set of specific issues — angles that matter to achieving effectiveness. And then they score and comment. This structure produces much more thoughtful answers and richer qualitative insight than a standard rating scale.
Once all responses are submitted, the report is generated automatically. It shows aggregate scores, flags issues, provides commentary and highlights the degree of alignment across respondents. "Quick version" reports are clear enough to present directly to the board. More detailed reports can be edited in Word.
From your report: see at a glance where perspectives align — and where they don't.
Respondents reflect on specific improvement issues before they rate. This anchors scores to substance, not instinct — and gives a lot more insight.
Comments shouldn't be just optional extras. Thinking Board® encourages comments — and can be set up to make comments required.
All responses are anonymised and aggregated. Individual views are never identifiable in the output.
Controlled setup, role-based access and consistent structures ensure every review meets the same standard.
Thinking Board® is a diagnostic tool. It's built to surface what needs to change — not to confirm that a box has been ticked.
Board reviews involve candid views on sensitive matters. The platform is built accordingly.
All responses are aggregated and anonymised before reporting. Individual answers are never attributable to a respondent — by anyone, including administrators.
Each participant receives a unique, personalised link. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access to review data is restricted on a role basis.
Thinking Board® is used by boards across the UK and internationally. Data is hosted in the UK and EU and held in accordance with both GDPR regimes — among the world's most rigorous data protection standards.
You decide the scope, the participants and when a review opens and closes. Reports are delivered to you — not shared elsewhere.
Yes. Responses are submitted securely and reported only in aggregated form. Individual answers are never attributable to specific respondents.
Most respondents complete a standard review in 15 to 20 minutes. Each committee a bit less. The interface is designed to support thoughtful responses without becoming burdensome.
The questionnaires are designed to cover the main influences on a board's effectiveness. They are based on our experience and around Independent Audit's Model of Board Effectiveness. We know that sometimes you will want extra questions and to put some small edits through — and Thinking Board® ULTIMATE allows you to do this. Give us your edits and we'll make the changes and make sure the questions still work well.
The platform administrator can see completion status in real time and send reminders directly from the system. Reviews can remain open until all respondents have submitted — or closed at any time you decide, if it's clear someone will not respond. That's very unusual: typically we have a 100% response rate.
Reports are generated automatically within the platform and can be exported to Microsoft Word. This enables further editing as you want to tailor to your board. The summary report is "board ready" and can go straight into your board pack. Longer reports including more detail are also available to you.
Book a 30-minute demo and we'll walk you through the platform, explain how the methodology works, and help you think through what a review would look like for your organisation.
No commitment. No hard sell. Just a straightforward conversation.
