Board meetings are essential to the success of any organization. They require a lot and dedication from both the leadership team as well as the board members. But how do you conduct a board meeting which is both effective and productive? The answer lies in careful planning with a well-organized agenda and early distribution of materials as well as smart scheduling, appropriate locations and the ease of access to materials.

Introduce the meeting by introducing the agenda, and then extending a warm greeting to all present, particularly guests or new members. Set the tone by establishing the purpose of your board’s discussions and clearly boardroomate.com/how-to-improve-board-performance/ describing how decisions will be made. It’s important to adhere to the quorum requirement in your governance documents and ensure that all members are present.

Discuss the most important board agenda items first. This will ensure that you allow sufficient time for them to be considered and discussed. This will help you to have the most interesting and lively conversations, and also adhere to your meeting schedule.

Tell us how you’ll make decisions during the meeting, whether it’s through consensus or by voting. This will ensure that everyone on the board is aware of and agrees on the decision-making process which is essential to effective decision-making.

Give the board plenty of time to discuss new, unresolved issues. This is known as “new business.” Typically, these are focused on discussion, with the goal of reaching a decision. If, however, you decide that further research is needed or a decision is not able to be reached at the time of the meeting it is helpful to create a section in the agenda to address these issues. These topics can be addressed in future meetings or in follow-up discussions.