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A successful board meeting is a combination of preparation, planning and execution. Board meetings can take a lot of time but are essential to the success of a business. With this in mind, it’s important for companies to maximize the effectiveness of board meetings by following the best practices that allow for effective decision-making.
Start and end at the same time
It’s no secret that many meetings of the board start late and run longer than they ought to. It’s crucial that meetings start on time and end on time to limit the amount of fatigue from meetings.
Set Priorities for the Meeting
In board meetings, it is easy to get distracted by new topics that take up precious time. To avoid this, prioritize two major issues that need to be discussed and limit the discussion to 30 minutes each. This will help keep the discussion focused and productive.
Provide Directors With the Board Pack in advance
By preparing the agenda and the materials needed for the meeting ahead of time members can prepare themselves and arrive on time at the meeting.
Review Your Meetings
A few times each year you can give each board member sticky notes at the end of each meeting and ask them to write the following: a “+” to indicate what’s working well and an “-” for what needs improvement. This will provide the board’s leadership with honest feedback and result in a better board meetings in the future.