Almost half of company directors in the UK think their boards do not add enough value to their organisation, while nearly a third believe that they add no value at all, according to new research from Board Intelligence.

The advisory firm’s Board Value Index suggests that boards may be actively holding organisations back, with more than half (56%) of board members spending more time reviewing past performance than they do looking ahead.

Polling more than 200 executive and non-executive directors from enterprise firms across the UK and US, Board Intelligence found that 34% said their board was more concerned with historic actions, with 10% of directors saying that at least 80% of their board’s time is spent looking backwards.

According to the report, this failure to look beyond the horizon is impacting directors’ confidence in the ability of their board to take clear, timely, and well-informed decisions without needing to rely on external consultants.

Board Intelligence found UK directors had low levels of confidence in their board decision-making across nearly every area, including corporate finance (33%), legal and compliance issues (33%), as well as reputation and brand management (26%) and sustainability (32%).

Most worrying, however, is that less than a third (32%) of surveyed directors were confident in their board’s leadership of digitisation and technology strategies, a problem most keenly felt by those in the UK (27%).

This data adds to a pattern of recent research which has identified a growing disconnect between boards and their teams regarding tech strategy. 

For instance, a study from Splunk found that just 33% of boards agreed that innovation should be a priority, despite 52% of CISOs reporting it as their main area of focus, while a report from Gartner late last year saw 80% of non-executive directors reporting that their boards were inadequately prepared to oversee the push toward AI.  

According to Board Intelligence, its results are evidence that despite almost every business looking to reshape themselves around emerging technologies boards are not yet equipped to’ navigate the disruptive forces that are today shaping every industry’.

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When asked about barriers to making faster, better decisions in the boardroom, directors were most likely to cite the rigidity and inconsistency of decision-making processes and frameworks as the biggest roadblock (28%). 

This was followed by the clarity of roles and responsibilities (27%), time management in meetings (27%), and the quality of information provided to the board (26%).  

Regional differences were evident, however, with almost a third (31%) of US directors feeling held back by processes, and 30% by stakeholder considerations, in the UK, company directors were more concerned about poor information and weak time management (both 28%).

Commenting on the findings, Ann Hiatt, chair of Board Intelligence said: “The data is clear: boards need greater clarity, from executives, investors, and regulators, on the role they are expected to play and the ways in which they can be better equipped to add value. 

“When structured effectively, boards can be a powerful driver of performance.”