Knowledge, Skills, Mindset: Understanding Your Board’s Key Competencies
Over the years, we’ve had plenty of enquiries from boards wanting a skills matrix process that’s more than just a template, something that’s tailored, robust and supportive. Until now, we’ve offered generic frameworks to help get boards started because we didn’t have the right tools and found there was a hole in others’ offerings, especially in New Zealand
So, we built one.
It’s taken us a while, but we’re proud to launch Grounded’s new Skills Matrix process. It’s a clear, collaborative, and research-backed way to help boards understand, assess, and align their key competencies. We’ve found that a successful board doesn’t happen by accident, and shooting in the dark when it comes to recruitment only hurts the board down the track.
Why focus on competencies?
If you want to shape the future of your board, you need to understand what’s required to get there, whether it’s the skills a new director should bring, or the areas where your current board members could benefit from support and investment.
Through our development and research, we found the UK Institute of Directors Competency Framework really understood the complexity of this process with their three key areas of competency. These being:
- Knowledge: Industry-specific insights, technical understanding, and strategic context that inform good governance decisions
- Skills: The practical application of knowledge, enabling directors to contribute to effectively in real-world scenarios
- Mindset: The attitude, behaviours, and values each board member brings, shaping the culture and effectiveness of the whole team.
These key areas create a strong foundation, while still allowing for tailoring and industry-specific competencies.
Built for You, Not Just Anyone
In our full Skills Matrix process, we provide 12 recommended competencies across Knowledge, Skills, and Mindset and then work with your board to define any additional competencies that are unique to your organisation’s context. Together, we rank their importance and co-design language that reflects your strategy and sector.
In our workshop, we take time to review, reshape, and refine the competency set so it becomes 100% yours – this is where the difference in template vs process is highlighted! This is about more than voting for an outcome; the board’s dialogue on what really matters is critical.
If needed, we then complement this process with a tailored self-assessment survey to map current strengths and identify potential gaps. We can moderate the results and provide clear, actionable insights to support recruitment, succession planning, and targeted development.
Clients tell us this process has helped them get sharper on what they need, clearer about their next move, and more energises about what’s possible.
Want to learn more about how this process could support your board?