"Personal and empathetic style"

“Eva carried out a Board Effectiveness Review for us having been recommended to me by two colleagues in the health system. We ran a competitive tender and Eva’s approach seemed distinctive whilst offering value for money.

Eva did a very good job. As an individual she was easy to work with whilst being credible and knowledgeable. There is obviously a framework to her approach but this was tailored to the organisation’s needs and reflected the context of our role within the system.

She has a personal and empathetic style which meant that everyone who was interviewed felt at ease and that it was a very personal discussion rather than a formal interview-checklists were not in sight. The positive feelings from these discussions created a confidence in the likely robustness of the report’s findings before it was issued. The final reporting reflected a similar approach. The main report was balanced in its conclusions, providing useful external assurance and insightful and constructive, if sometimes provoking, recommendations.

Although this provided views on how effective the Board was the emphasis was on how we, as a team, could be better. This was supplemented by a suggested approach to measuring future progress. As chair I received further useful feedback on things that Eva had observed during the process which went beyond the scope of the report. We therefore received as an organisation an insightful and helpful report, supported by prompts on how to respond, which all Board members felt comfortable in adopting.”