How the board meetings are run has an impact on how productive and informative the discussions are. To get the most benefit of each meeting, it is essential to establish clear expectations of how the meetings are intended to operate and how the decisions are made.
In general, board meetings shouldn’t be filled with reading reports. Instead committee chairs should go over their reports ahead of time and present them during the meeting. The board will then be able to discuss each report and the information contained in it in the context of the overall goals of the company.
Board members must be able to talk openly and freely in order to have productive conversations. However, this also means they must respect the rights of others to speak at their own pace. While there are exceptions interruptions to other board members is generally thought to be unprofessional.
A common error is to bring up a problem or issue to be discussed without having a clear plan on what the board ought to how to conduct board meetings do. This can cause the discussion to feel a bit stale and unproductive. Start with a general notion and let everyone consider the pros and cons.
It is essential to ensure that the important information is not missed by having a board secretary or another experienced person, take notes at the meeting. However, it is essential to clearly communicate how the board will make its decisions–whether through consensus or by voting. Also, who is responsible for the preparation of the minutes.