A well-run meeting of your board of directors can help you to make informed and ethical decisions. The board must be able to review documents, have discussions and reach consensus on complex issues. The meeting must be documented in a way that allows future reference and ensuring compliance. The process can be challenging to navigate however it is crucial that the board makes the most of their time and resources.
Board work can be exhilarating and exhausting. Avoid these common pitfalls to keep meetings productive.
1. Recapitulating discussion points from previous meeting
Reliving discussions from the previous board meeting will consume time, and will distract from the most pressing agenda items. You will also not be able meet the goals of the meeting when you are distracted by new discussion topics. If you must discuss a topic that wasn’t initially on the agenda with the group, you can agree to continue the discussion until end of the meeting. The group is then able to examine the issue and decide if they want to add it to the next agenda, delegate a task, or research the topic further.
2. Information sharing is too much
Board members need to be well-informed, however the board package should be at a level that will encourage discussion and stimulate questions, not serve as an exhaustive explanation of every piece of information available for consideration. It may sound a bit like playing a pre-school teacher however it lets the board focus on the most important decisions and assures that they’re tackling those matters when their decision-making capabilities are at their highest.
