When your board meets, you want to ensure that everyone is ready. Distributing meeting materials a minimum of a week before the meeting is a way to ensure everyone is well-prepared. This gives both new and experienced members a chance to look over the agenda and plan for discussions.
It’s also crucial to communicate with your board prior to the meeting. This will allow any bad news to be released beforehand, so that it doesn’t come as an issue at the time of the meeting. This is also a good time to talk with committees or officers that have reports due during the meeting. It is important to have a direct communication channel between the board and management particularly when there are urgent issues.
Limit the discussion topics at the meeting to those which are listed on the agenda. This will enable you to work through each subject quickly and ensure that the time allocated to the board is used productively.
While some discussions can result in disagreements, don’t let these discourage you. Boards which encourage diversity of thought are more likely to make better decisions than boards that have one point of view. A little conflict can be a good thing.
It’s important to review the past decisions made by the board every time they meet. This will allow you to avoid making the same mistakes again in future meetings, and it will highlight areas for improvement. It is also helpful to keep a record on how decisions were taken in case of future disputes.