Board Meetings - Top Tips

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Board Meetings – Top Tips

Our board meetings top tips will help you meet best practice and good governance standards and make your organisation more effective.

Love them or hate them, meetings are an integral part of everyday life in most organisations. 

Board meetings are especially important as they play a key role in ensuring that the organisation is well run and effective and that governance is robust. 

And of course the nature of meetings changed dramatically during the pandemic with so manyof them held virtually. And was that a learning curve and a half for many of us! Mute on/off; camera on/off; distractions in the background…..

So what can go wrong with your board meetings, do they waste a lot of your valuable time and what can you do to improve them in your organisation?

Board Meetings – Voluntary Organisations

Voluntary boards and committees in charities, credit unions and other not-for-profit bodies are a special case.  Meetings in these organisations are more significant as their constitution will likely provide a framework that must be adhered to. 

Also, board members (often trustees) are unpaid for their time and commitment. (Sign up below to receive one of our future blogs on top tips for recruiting trustees).

Board Meetings – Private Companies

Private company meetings tend to be in family owned businesses. They are often irregular and informal and that is not always a good thing. It really depends on whether the family members want to have a professionally run business with structured formats, procedures and good governance standards. Or they are happy to manage the business on an informal and loose basis.

In my experience, the key is whether or not there are staff involved. Staff and especially management who want to see the business develop and grow usually prefer a more formal structure.

With best practice and good governance arrangements in place, board meetings in private companies can be a real benefit to the business. They can provide a positive framework for strategic planning and clear direction for management and staff.

The problem with meetings

So, what is the problem with meetings? Surely they are a vital component of the communication and decision making framework of organisations of all sizes?

Well, yes they are.  But not all meetings are good or effective. These are the ones that need to be improved. Or deferred.  Or even cancelled.

As a board member, your time is extremely valuable and maybe you have attended meetings that displayed some or all of these problems:

  • No formal agenda
  • The agenda is vague and in no logical order
  • The meeting starts late because of ‘stragglers’….and then overruns
  • Minutes from the last meeting are barely recognisable and many actions, responsibilities and/or deadlines are unclear
  • Papers are missing, incomplete and even presented (late) at the meeting
  • Side conversations run uninterrupted and are not ‘through the chair’
  • Forceful personalities dominate discussions and ramble on aimlessly about their own pet subjects
  • Some attendees add little or nothing to the meeting

During some meetings, you will know that it’s not a good use of your time being there. And often it isn’t easy to change the course of a meeting after it has started. 

So, what can you do?  

Read our Board Meetings Top Tips to find out…..

Strategies to improve your meetings

Some attendees invest time before the meeting i.e. at the planning stage – so they will save a lot more time later on. 

Some focus during the meeting itself to make it run more efficiently and effectively.

While others spend their time after the meeting trying to improve the outputs.

The best solution involves all 3 stages – prepare before; control during; manage after the meeting.

Board Meeting Top Tips

If you’re looking for a lasting solution, here are our board meeting Top Tips.

Stage 1: Before your meeting

  • Timely receipt: Aim to receive (or issue) the agenda and all the papers (or access the online folders) at least one week in advance – so you can read, digest and prepare for the topics being discussed.
  • Board paper structure: Ensure that board papers are presented in a standard format for all routine submissions – the less free form (or worse, verbal) submissions, the better.
  • Clear agenda: Make sure the agenda is clear (item headings, order and timings; who is presenting; what decision, if any, is required) and that it has a strategic focus – this lets you know in advance what you need to prepare for, what challenge(s) you need to consider, what is top priority and what is not and helps keep everyone on track.
  • Arrive early: Arrive (or log in) at least 10 minutes early so that all the preparations are completed – coffee/tea/water poured; mute and camera on/off; background sorted; papers ready (or tablet prepared); so that the meeting can start on time – no point in getting off to a slow start.
  • Read all the papers in advance: At the start of the meeting, the chair should confirm that papers have all been read in advance and only take questions of clarification or challenge or support – this focuses on the outcome needed and avoids a general discussion that repeats what is in the paper(s).

Stage 2: During your meeting

  • Chair role: Ensure your chair (it might be you!) keeps everything moving against pre-agreed time slots or the ‘time bandits’ will move in and distract everyone from the important matters and decisions.
  • Restrict late papers (No “AOB”): Only in exceptional circumstances include “Any Other Business” on your agenda or allow papers to be presented at the meeting – you need time to read them so don’t be rushed into a decision while someone ‘talks you through the main issues’.
  • Everything through the Chair: Discourage all side discussions or debates. Direct all conversations through the chair and show all speakers courtesy and respect. And the chair can appoint a timekeeper to keep the process moving at a good pace.
  • Follow the online meeting protocol if appropriate: Flag if you want to speak, stay on mute meantime; camera on; no background distractions; being recorded or not.
  • Consider paperless meeting: there is a trend now towards paperless board meetings and this can save so much time printing, copying, scanning, filing, emailing, posting……..not to mention the benefits to the environment.
  • Action Minutes: Record all actions clearly, with responsibilities and timeframes.
  • Finish on time: Make sure the meeting ends when it is supposed to – this is a discipline that everyone respects and the Chair can manage if they focus on time and time wasters.

Stage 3: After your meeting

  • Prompt Minutes: Ensure draft minutes are issued, ideally within 48 hours of the meeting so the items are fresh in attendees’ minds – give a deadline for any amendments and issue final minutes, ideally within 7 days.
  • Record Actions: Record all actions in a Minutes Log to ensure that none are forgotten or missed.
  • Follow up Actions:  If you have an action to follow up, make sure you do it on time and not bluff your way at the meeting so you can look like you did something.

The important role of the chair

Some of the above actions are for the Chair and some are for the attendees. The Chair should control the agenda, with input from the other board members. And the Chair should control the meeting – a formal “Code of Conduct” is a great aide to make sure this works well.

While the role of the chair is a critical one, everyone must play their part. It will be a team effort if you really want to improve board and other meetings in your organisation.

Virtual meetings

Online meetings are here to stay and there are certain protocols that need to be followed. And yet the rules for face to face meetings are largely the same as for virtual meetings. Sometimes the only difference is the technology and most of us are getting better at that.

Start with your next meeting….

Meetings take up so much of our valuable time, especially if you are giving it free as a voluntary committee member. And if you are a family member, your time is valuable too. You owe it to yourself, your organisation and your key stakeholders to make your board meetings more effective.

These board meetings top tips aren’t complicated. They just need some dedicated time from you, the Chair and other board members invested upfront, then during and after the meetings to make them work better. If you do, the outcomes will be much clearer and more focused and your organisation more effective. 

And the time to start is now, before your next meeting.

In a later blog, we will look at board paper structures and the format for meeting agendas and minutes so make sure you sign up for our newsletter below so that you don’t miss it.

If you want to take a good look at your broader governance, why not complete a self-assessment using our online Third Sector Governance Tool or complete our online Company Health Check Tool.
 
Tony Haren