A personal action plan for the chief executive: it's a good bet that CEO evaluations will prove to be a passing fad if directors don't use them properly. A better way is possible.

• Author: Bolmeijer, Marjan
• Position: CEO DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION - Chief executive officers

CEO EVALUATIONS are becoming standard at boards in corporate America, but there's no evidence that the tool is living up to its potential usefulness. In particular, when it comes to a new CEO, the evaluation can be easily abused as just another item on the checklist of corporate governance. The assumption seems to be: If the CEO needs an evaluation, we hired the wrong CEO!

As a board director, you know the truth. The CEO selection process is never perfect, and no candidate is a perfect fit. Too often a CEO gets hired for all the right reasons; then, within a relatively short time frame, the sentiment behind the decision gets reversed--often for all the wrong reasons. Yet most perceived shortcomings or mistakes can be ironed out quickly if the board has a development process--a personal action plan--in place for the new CEO.

The CEO evaluation, in that regard, is only one half of a good idea. Without an action plan to accompany it, there's no focus on giving the CEO the support he or she really needs to have an optimum impact.

When the real work begins

In contrast to evaluations, action plans are relatively unheard of in relation to CEOs. Yet dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs have become advocates. An action plan is clearly an idea whose time has come.

Everyone in the corporate world knows an evaluation without a follow-up plan that includes practical improvement steps does little good. Supervisors know that you can't assess a direct report in January 2005 and expect that person to miraculously improve by January 2006. The evaluation only provides an X-ray of the gap between current and desired status.

The action plan, on the other hand, is the exercise regimen by which individuals obtain the skills, capabilities, behaviors, and other changes necessary to meet the ongoing challenges of their role and fully succeed.

Some boards are more proactive and operationally involved than others, yet few directors have the time, the information, the frequency of contact, or even the relationship with the CEO to discuss professional growth topics in a productive manner. It's not your role to become the CEO's boss and supervise his or her progress on an ongoing basis.

Yet the board can perform a broader and much more valuable function by 1) insisting that a CEO evaluation and action plan is put in place, and 2) ensuring that progress gets made. An action plan creates a structured and supportive means for you to talk openly about the need for tactical steps for...