A well-run board meeting will increase productivity and decision-making, enhance collaboration and time management and bring businesses closer to their objectives. However, running a productive and efficient board meeting requires a fluid agenda structure, a suitable board book template and clear governance practices.
Create clear meeting goals and communicate them to participants in advance. This will help everyone organize and prioritize discussion topics to avoid meetings that are too long and ineffective. Focus on issues rather than updates and limit meetings to 30 minutes per topic. This will help keep discussions productive and reduce fatigue.
Be clear about the way decisions will be made during the meeting, such as whether they will be made by consensus, vote or a different method. Encourage an open dialogue, respecting different opinions. But be honest about difficult topics and bad news. If you must utilize a formal voting procedure, ensure the procedure is clearly explained and has a predetermined number of votes required for a decision to be considered agreed. The minutes of the meeting should accurately record the voting results that allow for accountability as well as follow-up.
Following the meeting, summarize all the decisions taken and create a list of actions items that each chief executive can present to their department. This will help to reinforce the new strategies that were agreed upon and ensure that each department is on board in implementing these goals. In subsequent meetings, review and assess these actions to create a culture that is based on accountability.