Board meetings are a critical method to keep your company on track and to establish a strategy. But they can be overloaded with lengthy reports and other routine activities that don’t help your business’s strategic direction.
If you want your board meetings to be productive and efficient, it’s important to set clear expectations for the meeting’s purpose agenda structure, agenda structure, and decision-making procedure. Additionally, a board management tool like Range can speed up the process of establishing an agenda and communicating with directors.
A clear agenda structure will help keep the gathering focussed and on track. The chair and executive director should collaborate to determine discussions topics and be sure you include items that align with the board’s mission, vision and strategic goals. A software for managing boards can also assist in the creation of an agenda template for board meetings to ensure that meetings are consistent and ensure that nothing click this gets lost or not covered.
To avoid wasting your time, limit the amount of reporting items on the agenda of your board and encourage chairpersons and officers to present brief reports prior to the meeting to outline what everyone needs to know. This will leave the majority of the meeting for discussion and decision-making.
To get the discussion going Begin the meeting with a positive story from staff or board members. This is a great way to recognize a recent accomplishment or remind participants of the importance of their jobs and responsibilities. Then, focus the rest of the meeting on the future strategies and ways to get over any obstacles that might hinder progress.