It is essential to get board meetings started well in order to have productive discussions and take good decisions. A well-structured meeting agenda allows your board members to concentrate on important topics instead of routine updates or operational issues.
Once your executive team has drafted the agenda for your board meeting, they should communicate it to the chairperson and CEO to discuss and make any necessary adjustments. They might also wish to contact the attendees to confirm their participation to ensure quorum will be met.
In this step it is also important to provide an overview of the previous meeting’s proceedings, as well as any follow-up tasks that need to be addressed at the upcoming board meeting. This will board meeting checklist allow the board to begin discussions with an understanding of previous decisions made and how they were reached.
Board members can add strategic value to your company by sharing their professional opinions and insights during the discussion portion of meetings. It is a good time to ask and answer questions or challenge established beliefs and look at the possibilities of new opportunities. To maximize the effectiveness of this section, you should consider implementing effective moderation techniques including encouraging back-and forth dialog and using discussion prompts to guide conversations.
You should also add an item on the agenda of the board meeting for any other items that are not yet resolved. This includes reviewing financial reports, executive summaries and any other attachments. This is also an ideal opportunity to discuss a timeline for the next steps and to assign the responsibility for the fulfillment of these commitments.