A well-organized board meeting is a critical component of successful governance. It’s where the Board of Directors comes together to discuss and make decisions on critical company questions, while ensuring that the organisation is moving in the right direction. While it can seem daunting but there are some basic guidelines that will ensure you’re having productive discussions and making the right decisions throughout your meetings.
It is essential to plan well in advance and distribute the agenda with all members before the meeting. A clear agenda will outline key topics and allocate reasonable amounts of time to each discussion. This will prevent meetings from drifting off-topic or getting bogged down in a rerun or becoming an opportunity for just a few to contribute versus an inclusive discussion of the all members of the Board.
Prioritize two crucial issues that need to be discussed at each meeting. This is a typical best practice that helps to focus discussions and limit the number of items to be discussed during the meeting. This allows more time to spend read review on each issue and the decision to be made instead of just sharing updates. Updates can be easily shared using the board book, and only a specific amount of time to update can be allocated to these during the meeting itself.
Make clear the process for deciding. This will ensure that all participants are on the same page and are aware of the process of making decisions. It also establishes expectations for the kind of discussions that will be held during the meeting, like finding common ground and examining all viewpoints or resolving differences by a vote.
