How to Keep Board Meetings Productive and Engaging
A board meeting is a high-level meeting for decision-making and discussion in an organization. In addition to assessing past performance, these meetings assist in the development of future strategies and approve plans of action that will promote progress. Depending on the size of the company, these meetings can be private and confidential, or open to the public.
The agenda is usually prepared by the executive secretary or the management assistant with input from chairman and CEO. It also includes information on logistics like the date, time and location of the meeting. It also includes a summary of the previous minutes as well as the agenda items that are pending. It is important for board members to look through the minutes from the previous meeting and then ratify them prior to discussing any new matters.
Reports that are too long as well as other routine tasks can drown a conference in details. Try to limit the amount of time spent on reports to 25 percent or less than the total time of the meeting. This will make meetings active and enjoyable. Encourage the chairpersons and leaders to provide a summary prior the meeting, instead of giving an in-depth account.
It’s also helpful to have a parking lot at the end of your agenda for new discussions that don’t fit into the top two priorities of the meeting. This will help you avoid getting sidetracked and wasting valuable meeting time. Focusing the discussion on the most critical issues maximizes results from every minute of the board meeting.