The skills matrix: how it is built

A competency framework turned into a director self-assessment, a collective skills map and peer benchmarks from Gov360 Data; gap analysis against what the strategy requires, and a succession plan. Standard definitions of experience and competencies, so the matrix can be compared with the market rather than read in isolation.

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2010Independent since
Why now

Published, therefore compared

Skills matrices now appear in registration documents and are read by investors and proxy advisers against those of peers. A matrix built on self-declared tags, with no definitions and no evidence threshold, is the one that gets questioned.

What you receive

An informed matrix, a target profile, a plan

Every rating read against a written scale; the board's collective profile set against its peers from Gov360 Data; a target profile, skill by skill; and the plan that closes the gap — presented to the nomination committee, then to the board.

How a skills matrix is built

How it is built — and why the self-rating is challenged

A matrix is only as good as the evidence behind each tick. So the exercise begins with what the strategy will require of the board, and every rating a director gives is read against a written scale.

01
Preliminary conversations
Confidential discussions with the chair and the chief executive: the strategic priorities, the decisions ahead — and the discussions the board currently keeps short because the skills are not around the table.
02
Document review
Strategy documents, board and committee papers, the existing matrix if there is one, director biographies, the disclosures of peers.
03
One-to-one interviews
With directors and, where useful, the company secretary and key executives: what the board is asked to decide, and what it feels under-equipped to challenge.
04
Benchmarking
The board's profile set against peers from Gov360 Data, on standard definitions of experience and competencies — so the matrix reads against the market rather than in isolation.
05
Shareholder expectations
What the shareholder base, the voting policies of the main investors and the proxy advisers expect to see on this board, given its sector and ownership.
06
The self-assessment questionnaire
Sixteen skills in two blocks — attributes every board needs, and skills tied to the industry. Each rating must carry a comment and an example of how the skill was applied on the board or in a committee during the latest mandate. Two further questions: the days a member should give per year, and the days actually given.
07
Aggregation — and alternative ratings
Responses are aggregated and read against the scale. Where a self-rating does not meet the evidence threshold, we propose an alternative rating with the reason written down. Only high and medium-high ratings count towards the board's collective profile.
08
Target profile, gap, plan
The target profile states, skill by skill, the minimum share of the board that should hold it; the actual share is computed; the gap is what the plan addresses. A draft is consulted, then presented — with the informed matrix, the benchmarks, and an action plan of recommendations, actions and target dates.
The scale and the taxonomy

Each skill defined four ways

A tick in a matrix means nothing until two things are written down: what counts as evidence of the skill, and what does not. Our scale sets the threshold. Our taxonomy — from chief executive and finance experience to climate, geopolitics, emerging markets and organisational development — sets for each skill a definition, an evidence threshold, the common false positives it excludes, and the neighbouring skill it is confused with, with the rule that decides.

  • 01High — Five years or moreAt least five years of experience in the relevant position or field, including any certifications.
  • 02Medium-high — Three years or moreAt least three years, combining work experience and relevant education.
  • 03Medium-low — Trained, not practisedExposure to the field through training, with limited or no practical, in-field experience.
  • 04Low — TheoreticalLimited exposure through personal interest; primarily theoretical knowledge.
  • 05Absent — NoneNo experience or knowledge of the relevant field.
The scale and the taxonomy

Four entries from the taxonomy

  • 01Digital, data & cyberThe tag requires responsibility for digital, data or information security matters — not exposure to them. It excludes board memberships at technology companies alone, and consumer-facing digital marketing experience alone.
  • 02Artificial intelligenceIt excludes a general technology executive whose biography mentions AI once in a list of buzzwords. AI has to have been the subject of the responsibility, not the vocabulary of the biography.
  • 03Entrepreneurship, start-up & scale-upTwo tags, deliberately distinct. A founder who scaled their own company gets both; a hired chief executive who scaled someone else's start-up gets only Start-up / Scale-up.
  • 04Geopolitics & public affairsA former foreign minister gets Geopolitics; a former regulator or ministry official dealing with one country's rules gets Public affairs. Two rules run through the whole taxonomy: a chief executive is never tagged alone without Executive leadership; and undated evidence for a recency-sensitive skill is logged as “undated, needs verification” rather than silently counted or dropped.
Also in Advisory Board development & training ↗ The whole practice ↗ Board evaluation ↗
A tick in a matrix means nothing until the evidence behind it is written down.
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