GOVERNANCE BOARD AND COMMITTEE EVALUATION S Board and Committee evaluation TR A TE G I C The Board recognises the importance of continually monitoring and Two improvements were introduced during the year to increase the R E improving its performance. The annual performance evaluation flow of information from management to the Board. The Chairman P O provides the opportunity for the Board to reflect on the effectiveness hosted informal update calls on occasions when there was a longer R of its activities, its decision making, the contribution of individual gap between Board meetings and the CFO circulated a monthly T members of the Board and how it operates as a whole. finance dashboard to keep the Board updated on financial performance. This enhanced communication flow was welcomed G In line with the recommendations of the Code, the 2021 evaluation by the Board. O VE process should have been the Company’s first externally facilitated R evaluation. However, the Board concluded, given the appointment of AREAS OF EXCELLENCE IDENTIFIED FROM NAN all the Independent Non-executive Directors to the Board during the 2023 EVALUATION C year, that an externally facilitated evaluation was unlikely to provide E any benefit. The Board has the knowledge and experience required to support delivery of the strategy. F Given the further significant changes to Board composition during I NAN 2022, including a new Chief Executive OfÏcer, Chief Financial OfÏcer, The Board is confident that the Company has the right strategy two Shareholder Representative Directors and one Independent Non- C executive Director, last year the Board took the decision that an to fulfil its purpose. IAL external evaluation for 2022 would again not be of value. Therefore, S There is good alignment between the Board and the T the Board agreed to carry out a more rigorous internal evaluation, A management team regarding core strategic priorities T using BoardClic, a third-party (with no connection to the Company or E M the individual Directors) platform to assist with the provision of the E N questionnaire and analysis of results. With the continuing changes of T Board dynamics in 2023, two new Shareholder Representative Overall, it was the collective view of the Directors that the Board S is effective in discharging its responsibilities, operating with an open appointments and an additional Independent Non-executive Director, culture that allows challenge and debate. F the Board concluded to repeat the internal evaluation using the same U R third party provider for the 2023 evaluation. The benefit of using this T AREAS IDENTIFIED FROM THE EVALUATION WHICH H third-party platform was that it enabled the data to be broken down E COULD ENHANCE THE BOARD’S EFFECTIVENESS R between Executive Directors, Independent Non-executive Directors INF and Shareholder Representative Directors so that alignment between IN 2024 the three groups of directors could be assessed. It also enabled OR the results to be benchmarked against the results of other FTSE Balance of strategy and operational discussions M A companies. Using the same survey for 2023 as for 2022 allowed a Carefully monitor the balance of time spent at the Board T I comparison of results year-on-year which provided additional value. discussing operational matters as opposed to strategic matters ON The conclusions of the evaluation were very positive, concluding that Succession planning More focus on succession planning for key roles in the the Board is highly effective and there is alignment between the views of the Shareholder Representative Directors, Independent Directors management team and Executive Directors. Governance The provision of more concise and timely Board papers should facilitate more effective and focused discussion at Board meetings. This is particularly important given the size of the Board to ensure that there is sufÏcient time for all Board The Chairman is doing an excellent members to engage in discussion and debate job of pushing our business Board interaction forward with investments in people It is appreciated by the members of the Board that as the Board and product, positioning us for has grown in size, it is more challenging to hold meetings in person. However, the Board would welcome more in person growth today and in the future.” interaction, both in formal meetings and informally in the year NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ahead These suggestions will be addressed in the year ahead and progress made will be reported in the 2024 report. ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2023 92