Board meetings are important to help make strategic decisions, nail down corporate policies and more. Yet, these meetings can also be boring and full of routine items that can be time-consuming to prepare for. Although it might seem like the tedium of preparing for the board meeting is just another work-related burden, well-prepared directors can leave a positive impression on their fellow board members, which goes far beyond the surface.
Start planning board meetings by creating a draft agenda that includes time for each item to be discussed. It is important to design the agenda according to a number of hours that allows enough time to discuss each subject in depth and to allow for questions.
Once the agenda is set the agenda should be sent out to board members to allow them to begin preparing. At least a day or so before the meeting, send out the agenda to the board members. Boards that utilize a portal https://board-management.blog/a-brief-history-of-leadership-and-management-theory can collect and send all the necessary documents required for a meeting simply clicking on a button.
It is important to establish how formal or informal the board you are forming wishes your meeting to be, because this will have an impact on the structure of your meetings and how you address other members of the board. Some boards, for example, use Robert’s Rules of Order which is a formal procedure that includes the use of “Mr.” and “Madam”. It is important to become familiar with the rules regardless of the style that you decide to use. This will ensure that you do not be astonished at your first meeting.