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Nordic Board Survey

Welcome to Birn+Partners Board Services first Nordic Board Survey.

This survey is part of a forthcoming Birn+Partners White Paper exploring how boards create, measure, and sustain value. It aims to capture insights into how effectively boards balance governance and value creation, ensure decision quality, enable collaboration, and prepare for future challenges and opportunities.

Your input will contribute to two important outcomes:
1. Insight and benchmarking – helping us identify patterns across boards regarding structure, performance, and future readiness.
2. Practical development – informing improvements in Birn + Partners’ services, including board education, board readiness, recruitment, evaluation, and network initiatives.

The survey takes approximately 10–12 minutes to complete. All responses will be treated with full confidentiality and used only in aggregated form.

Thank you for sharing your experience and perspectives. Your contribution will help shape a deeper understanding of what defines an effective, value-creating board today – and in the future. If you want to receive the white paper and overall results, please fill in your email address at the end of the survey.
General background questions
1.Which Nordic country do you primarily represent or work in?(Required.)
2.Gender(Required.)
3.Company Ownership(Required.)
4.Company size(Required.)
5.Role on the Board. If you serve on multiple boards, please base your answer to this question and all subsequent questions in the survey on the single board you have served on for the longest duration.(Required.)
Section 1 – Overall Board Value
6.Our board is an essential driver of company value creation(Required.)
7.How effectively does your board balance governance (assurance) and value creation (insight & foresight)?(Required.)
8.How much added value does your board deliver to the company’s long-term success?(Required.)
9.In which areas does the board create the most value? (Select up to 3)(Required.)
10.Comment (optional): Please give one example of how the board has created value in the past year.
Section 2 – Strategic Focus and Time Allocation
11.What proportion of your board’s time is spent looking forward vs. past performance?(Required.)
12.How effectively does the board guide the following? (1 = Not effective, 5 = Highly effective)(Required.)
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a. Strategy development
b. Innovation and transformation
c. Value creation through M&A / growth
d. Risk oversight and opportunity identification
13.Comment (optional): What topics should receive more attention in board discussions?
Section 3 – Decision Quality and Processes
14.How confident are you in your board’s decision-making quality (clarity, timeliness, insight)?(Required.)
15.What are the biggest barriers to high-quality board decisions? (Select up to 3)(Required.)
16.How satisfied are you with the efficiency of board meetings and processes?(Required.)
17.Comment (optional): How could the board improve its meeting process or decision flow?
Section 4 – Collaboration and Leadership
18.How effectively does the board collaborate with the following stakeholders? (1 = Not effective, 5 = Highly effective)(Required.)
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a. CEO and management
b. Owners/investors
c. External stakeholders (customers, regulators, partners)
19.How would you rate the chairperson’s role in enabling value creation and effective discussion?(Required.)
20.How well does your board foster constructive challenge and psychological safety?(Required.)
21.Comment (optional): What could further strengthen collaboration or board culture?
Section 5 – Composition and Competencies
22.The current composition of the board reflects the company’s strategic needs and complexity.(Required.)
23.The board collectively possesses the right mix of competencies (finance, strategy, digital, HR, ESG, operations).(Required.)
24.The diversity of experience, gender, and perspectives on the Board of Directors actively contributes to better quality discussions and enhances our overall decision-making.(Required.)
25.Succession planning ensures that future board competency needs are systematically addressed.(Required.)
26.Comment (optional): Which competencies or perspectives are currently underrepresented?
Section 6 – Future Readiness and Impact
27.How confident are you that your board is prepared for: (1 = Not confident, 5 = Fully confident)(Required.)
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a. AI and technology governance
b. ESG and sustainability oversight
c. Cybersecurity and data protection
d. Crisis and reputational risk management
28.Which competencies will be most critical for your board’s effectiveness over the next 3–5 years? (Select up to 3)(Required.)
29.To what extent does your current board possess sufficient insight in these future-critical areas?(Required.)
30.In what ways has your board most effectively added value in the past 12 months?
31.What single improvement would most increase your board’s value contribution?
32.What topic or skill should your board develop next to stay future-ready?
33.If you are interested in receiving the whitepaper and overall survey results please fill in you email address below.