Board meetings provide an amazing opportunity to shape a business, pulling together brain power to navigate through stormy waters and calmer waters. If done well, they can profoundly change the direction of an organization. A meeting can http://boardmanagers.net/decision-making-tools-to-help-increase-productivity-and-free-up-time quickly become unproductive if it lacks a clear structure.
It’s crucial to begin the meeting early by calling the meeting to order, and making sure that any discussion is of a personal or perfunctory nature. Once a quorum is reached it’s time to move on to the next item in the agenda and begin the main discussion. This is where you’ll discuss the most significant changes to the business along with the key forks on the road and the strategies that will guide your business into the future.
Reduce the length of meetings by encouraging officers and committee chairpersons to present bullet-point summaries. This allows for more time to engage in strategic discussions and ensures that your attendees aren’t distracted or bored by lengthy discussions.
Prior to the meeting, you should send all relevant documents (committee reports and staff reports Board packs, and any contextualizing documents) to your attendees in advance. This will save time during the meeting and will encourage participants to prepare in advance. When the meeting starts, start with any follow-up questions or clarifications that arose from the material you read beforehand and then jump straight into the most important discussions.