Effective Board Meetings: 15 Key Board Meeting Best Practices

Board meetings are key for strategic discussions and decisions. They drive governance. However, poor planning leads to unproductive meetings. This hinders progress. Board meeting best practices keep meetings on track.

This article addresses common barriers. It offers opportunities to oversee better meetings. We’ll cover:

• What makes an effective meeting
• Key roles for board meetings
• Steps for planning a meeting
• Best practices for productivity

What Makes an Effective Board Meeting?

Effective board meetings drive accountability and enable strategic decisions on urgent issues.

When run according to best practices, board meetings become the backbone of board effectiveness. They create space for debate, the board makes decisions, and allow follow-up on past decisions. Most impactful changes trace back to a board meeting.

Board Meeting Roles and Responsibilities

In most organizations, the roles and responsibilities of the board of directors are well-defined and often detailed in the bylaws. Well-run meetings demand specific roles for key players. These include:

• Board chair: The board chair is at the helm of every meeting and is responsible for following board meeting best practices. They set the agenda with the corporate secretary. The chair guides conversations. They ensure every member is heard. They call for votes as needed. At every stage, the chair advances governance. They consider fiduciary duties.
• Corporate secretary: Ahead of the meeting, the corporate secretary works with the board chair to create, finalize, and distribute the agenda and any relevant materials, such as committee reports. Once the meeting begins, the secretary is a steward of governance, taking thorough minutes, tracking resolutions and follow-ups, and holding the board accountable for anything they decide during the meeting.
• Committee chairs: Many boards use committees. They delegate oversight on topics like succession planning. Committee chairs present updates to the board. They discuss committee activities as necessary.
• CEO: The CEO attends meetings to give the board insight into the organization’s daily operations. They may present insights into operations, finances, or corporate strategy. As the liaison between the board and employees, the CEO should also use meetings to hear directly from the board about critical decisions and policies and how to implement them.
• Board members: Some board members may not have updates to share. However, they still must be engaged. They are responsible for offering strategic oversight, asking questions, and sharing opinions. In discharging that duty, they must also represent shareholders’ best interest. To do so, board members should review materials in advance, be ready to engage in discussions and collaborate with the board to make important decisions.

What Are the Critical Steps for Planning a Successful Board Meeting?

• Define clear meeting goals and objectives: Establish the purpose before inviting anyone. What decisions are needed? What information should be shared? Clearly defined goals guide the agenda. They guide time allocation and the meeting’s flow.
• Craft a well-organized agenda: The agenda is the meeting’s roadmap. Share it in advance. This allows members to prepare. Include timeframes for each item. Ensure important discussions aren’t rushed. Give critical matters attention.
• Include estimated timeframes for each agenda item, ensuring important discussions are not rushed while less critical matters receive sufficient attention.
• Encourage pre-meeting preparation: Distribute supporting materials beforehand. This includes reports and presentations. This empowers board members. They come prepared. They ask insightful questions. This enables deeper discussions.
• Consider technology for collaboration: Use trusted board management platforms to share documents. Conduct polls and facilitate remote participation. Ensure all participants are familiar. They need access to the necessary equipment.

15 Board Meeting Best Practices

Many processes make an effective board meeting! The corporate secretary supports the board chair. Board chairs cultivate skills to engage the board, including fostering engagement and driving decisions. This enhances meetings’ effectiveness.

Best Practices for Fostering Engagement and Active Participation

1. Start and end the meeting on time: Respecting the designated timeframe demonstrates efficiency and prevents fatigue, fostering a more focused and engaged environment.
2. Promote active discussion by employing diverse participation strategies. Go beyond traditional presentations and lectures. Encourage open dialogue by soliciting questions and feedback throughout the meeting. Utilize breakout sessions, brainstorming exercises, and role-playing scenarios to stimulate diverse perspectives and active participation.
3. Follow the agenda: While following the agenda sounds simple, meetings can quickly get off track. Board members may have issues, or planned discussions can take unexpected turns. Board chairs should anchor to the agenda and always redirect the meeting according to it. This respects board members’ time to review the agenda before the meeting and ensures all essential items are covered.
4. Ensure all voices are heard and respected: Create an inclusive setting where everyone feels comfortable sharing their opinions and asking questions. Acknowledge and address diverse viewpoints while maintaining respectful and productive discourse.
5. Delegate tasks and leverage individual expertise: Rotate who leads discussions on different agenda items, tapping into the board’s collective knowledge and experience. Assign specific tasks or questions to individual members, fostering ownership and engagement.

Best Practices for Facilitating Effective Decision-making

1. Clearly define the meeting’s purpose: What is the meeting for? Board chairs and corporate secretaries should determine the primary objective of each meeting and share it with attendees. This can focus engagement and decision-making around the most mission-critical items on the agenda, helping the board focus on key decisions.
2. Provide clear and concise information relevant to the agenda: Discuss factual data and well-considered analysis. Avoid overloading the board with unnecessary details that could hinder clear decision-making.
3. Encourage critical thinking and open debate: Create an environment where diverse perspectives are welcomed and openly discussed. Allow time for reasoned debate and exploring potential alternatives before reaching a decision.
4. Ensure voting processes are fair and transparent: Uphold established board meeting best practices, procedures and voting guidelines, ensuring all members understand the decision-making process.
5. Document decisions clearly and comprehensively: Assign a dedicated individual — often the corporate secretary — to take detailed minutes, accurately capturing all critical decisions, action items and next steps.

Best Practices for Board Meeting Effectiveness

1. Distribute the agenda before the meeting: Reviewing the agenda at the start of each board meeting is a poor use of members’ valuable time. Sharing the agenda before the meeting gives attendees time to review each item and prepare their initial thoughts. This fuels meaningful discussions rather than wasting time waiting for each member to think through their point of view.
2. Seek feedback from board members and participants: After each meeting, gather feedback through surveys, anonymous polls or facilitated discussions. This feedback will help identify areas for improvement and ensure the board is meeting the needs of its members and the organization.
3. Review and adapt meeting agendas and structures based on feedback: Be open to adjusting your approach based on ongoing feedback. Consider incorporating different formats, technology platforms or participation strategies to enhance the board’s effectiveness.
4. Regularly review and update relevant policies and procedures: Ensure that governance policies and board meeting best practices are current and reflect best practices. Revisit and update these documents regularly to maintain optimal board performance and effectiveness.
5. Send detailed meeting follow-ups: The best meetings are packed with discussions, debate, and decision-making, often accompanied by post-meeting tasks for each board member. Keep the contents fresh and hold the board accountable.

Boost board meeting efficiency with technology

Corporate secretaries and governance professionals can foster a culture of effective board meetings by following concrete board meeting best practices. The well-organized, engaging and productive meetings that result will help drive effective governance, strategic decision-making and, ultimately, the organization’s success.

Diligent Boards, part of the Diligent One Platform, is designed with board meeting best practices in mind. Boost the quality of your board meetings with:

• Streamlined minute-taking, distribution and review
• Integrated AI to summarize and compare board materials, build agendas, draft disclosures
• Faster agenda creation, including user-friendly templates and a drag-and-drop interface
• Simple and secure voting tools
• Centralized reporting so boards can quickly review enterprise-wide risk ahead of meetings