Recruiting company directors

You should help your new company directors be as effective as possible from the moment they start, so they can use their skills and experience to improve and grow your business.

You can do this, for example, by providing induction programmes, running training courses, setting objectives and carrying out performance appraisals.

Providing induction programmes

Having a comprehensive and formal induction programme can help new directors understand - and fit into - the culture of your business. See advantages of job inductions and preparing for an induction.

Training courses

Even though your company directors will bring talent and knowledge to the business, you will need to address any shortcomings you identified in the recruitment and selection process.

Providing training courses for your directors is one way of helping them extend and refresh their knowledge so they can bring additional skills to the board.

You may also wish to help them learn other skills - such as project management, public speaking or specific IT skills. See training your staff and skills and training for directors and owners.

Setting goals and targets

You should set business objectives for your directors that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed) and that are linked to key performance targets for the business.

If non-executives are fee-paid, include objectives in their service contracts. You may wish to relate part of their pay to the achievement of these objectives.

Carrying out performance appraisals

One way of assessing a director's progress and recognising their achievements is to carry out a formal appraisal of their performance.

See managing the performance of your staff.