Board meetings are an amazing chance to shape a company and bring together brain power to navigate through stormy waters and calmer waters. Done well they can fundamentally alter the direction of an organisation. But without a clear structure and a strict discipline, a meeting can quickly become unproductive and frustrating for everyone involved.
It is crucial to begin the meeting early by calling the meeting to order, and discussing any issues that are personal or of a purely formal nature. After ensuring a quorum is present, move to the next item on the agenda and start the main part of the discussion. This is where you’ll discuss the major updates to the business as well as the major forks of the road http://boardmanagers.net and the strategies that will guide your business into the future.
If you’re worried about the length of your meetings, cut down on reports and other “have-to’s” by encouraging officers and committee chairs to present short, bullet-point summaries. This gives you more time to spend on strategic discussions and ensures that your attendees will not be bored or distracted by long conversations.
Prior to the meeting, make sure you send all relevant documents (committee reports staff reports, committee reports, Board packs, and any other contextualizing documents) to your attendees in advance. This will not only help save time at the meeting, but also encourage your attendees to prepare in advance. Begin the meeting by providing any clarifications or follow-up questions that pop out of the reading material. Then, you can jump right into the most important discussions.