Evaluating and advising the bodies that govern
BCP Partners advises the boards and committees of listed groups and mid-market companies. Board evaluation, assessment of executive and management committees, Board Search, scoping of key roles and succession plans.
Governance lived from the inside
Our founder was Company Secretary of listed groups for twenty years. She prepared the agendas, sat through the deliberations and supported the difficult decisions.
That double legitimacy (a governance practitioner who also recruits its functions) is precisely what these assignments demand.
Evaluate a board, inform a decision
Evaluating a board means measuring how it actually works, how well its composition fits together and how effectively it contributes to the decisions that matter.
A board is composed, it is not filled. Confidential individual interviews with each board member, a review of the work of the board and its committees, structured feedback to the chair.
Board evaluation
How the board and its committees work, how they are composed and what they contribute, with confidential feedback to the chair.
Executive and management committee assessment
Assessing leaders within their own system, ahead of an appointment, a succession or the reshaping of a team.
Board Search
Search for independent non-executive directors, led by a former Company Secretary.
Governance lived, not theorised
Scope the key roles, prepare the successions
Some roles have to be redefined before they are filled. Scope, reporting line, positioning towards governance. That upstream work secures the appointment that follows.
A succession plan is built in calm times, not on the day someone leaves. When the unexpected happens, continuity is already organised.
Role scoping
Redefining scope and positioning ahead of any external hire or internal appointment.
Succession plans
Mapping the scenarios for the sensitive corporate functions and keeping the plan current.
A rare legitimacy
A governance practitioner who also recruits its functions, the experience these assignments demand.
The key functions of governance
Nine steps, three movements
From defining the need through to the integration follow-up over one year. Follow the thread.
- Define the need & the strategy · 01-03
- Select the candidates · 04-06
- Close and make it last · 07-09
- 01 Understand the situation The client's ambition and culture.
- 02 Set the search strategy Define the need together and calibrate the role.
- 03 Identify and approach candidates Draw up the long list and have candidates sign a confidentiality undertaking.
- 04 Validate the long list with the client Candidates identified and approached. Experience, potential interest, motivation, compensation.
- 05 Interview candidates and report to the client Go deeper into the questionnaire and analyse the AssessFirst results (personality, aptitudes, motivation).
- 06 Draw up the short list Document the candidates who are relevant, interested and motivated.
- 07 Client interviews with the candidates Confidential file handed over, test results and comparative table for the short list.
- 08 Assist the client with the selection Take up references, run business intelligence checks, negotiate the offer.
- 09 Support and make it last Follow and ease the integration of the appointee over one year.
What leaders ask us before they call
Governance codes recommend an annual review of how the board works, with a deeper exercise every two to three years. The right rhythm depends on the situation. A change of composition, a crisis lived through or a strategic transformation each justify a dedicated exercise. Evaluating a board means measuring how it actually works, how well its composition fits together and how effectively it contributes to the decisions that matter. Investors expect the exercise. They scrutinise the make-up of governance bodies and vote accordingly. Conducted properly, it becomes a lever of board performance rather than a compliance formality. It also reveals what is missing around the table and prepares the appointments that follow, because a board is composed, it is not filled. The next mandates often take shape at the end of an evaluation.
Individual interviews are confidential and the feedback is aggregated. The chair receives a structured reading of how the board works collectively, never a named verbatim record. That is the condition for everyone to speak frankly. Our method rests on individual interviews with each board member, a review of the work of the board and its committees, and structured feedback to the chair covering the strengths, the blind spots and our recommendations. The quality of the exercise depends on the quality of the listening, and that depends on what the evaluator has lived through. Our founder was Company Secretary of listed groups. She prepared the agendas, sat through the deliberations and supported the difficult decisions. Board members speak differently to someone who knows what a board meeting really involves. The confidentiality of individual remarks remains absolute, from the first interview to the final feedback.
Yes. Family-owned mid-market groups, fund portfolio companies, mutual and not-for-profit organisations of significant size. Governance requirements are converging, while the internal balances stay particular to each house. In a family-owned mid-market group, the evaluation often prepares a handover, and governance has to be structured so that what rested on one person can last. In a fund portfolio company, it sheds light on the relationship between the shareholder, the board and management, with investment horizons that weigh on every decision. Our work also covers the assessment of executive and management committees, the scoping of key roles ahead of a hire or an internal appointment, and succession plans. A succession plan is built in calm times, not on the day someone leaves. We map the scenarios for the sensitive corporate functions and keep the plan current at the rhythm of governance.
Sometimes, never as a matter of principle. Governance advisory informs a decision. When a board member search or a recruitment follows from it, we run that search under our usual rules, guarantee and off-limits included. Some roles in fact need to be redefined before they are filled. Scope, reporting line, positioning towards governance, target organisation. We carry out that work upstream with the stakeholders, and it secures the appointment that follows, whether it comes through an external hire or an internal promotion. One real example. When a long-serving General Counsel left a listed SBF 120 group, we stepped in before any search to redefine the role. Group management praised the recruitment that followed as one of the best of the period. The finest search in the world does not make up for a badly defined role.