Board meetings are “show time” for non-profit organizations where members get the opportunity to discuss, debate and decide on strategic issues in a professional and organized manner. But in order for the meeting to run smoothly and be effective, the executive director/CEO and board leaders need to carefully plan it out.

Unfortunately, many board meetings consist of the CEO rambling on aimlessly about staff reports and activities, which is a very in-effective way to run a board meeting (to say the least!). This week, let’s take a good hard look at how you can increase the effectiveness and smooth running of your board meetings.

1. The board is NOT a management committee. It’s imperative to distinguish between the two. A committee does the leg work, examines studies, reviews reports and proposes recommendations. In essence, the management committee prepares the board to make decisions and pass policy issues for the organization.
2. Board decisions/resolutions need to be prepared prior to the board meeting. This is one way to prevent the board from acting as a management committee. Committees should meet before the board meeting to draft resolutions and issues that need to be decided on at the board meeting.
3. Meet once a month or once every two months. In order to conduct business and to hold management accountable it is important for the board to meet regularly. Meeting only a few times a year does not give the organization the time to take itself seriously and to discuss the organization’s critical policy issues. Also, by meeting monthly or semi-monthly people get in the habit of meeting and feel more comfortable discussing delicate but important issues.
4. Hold meetings in the same location. This is important. Board members will appreciate a consistent and comfortable location. It is okay occasionally to have a meeting somewhere special (for example, many boards hold their annual retreats at camps, hotels, or inspirational wilderness areas, etc.).
5. Develop the agenda at least two days prior to the meeting. The executive committee should meet a week prior to the board meeting and design the agenda. The agenda should include items that need to be discussed and decided on as well as a timeline. E-mail the agenda to the board members two days prior to the meeting.
6. Don’t go crazy taking lengthy minutes. Don’t spend pages and pages writing down every last detail of the meeting. If there is an item that needs a follow-up at the next meeting, mark it in red on the agenda and go over it at the beginning of the next board meeting. Other than that, keep the minutes to a minimum.
7. Don’t get into the habit of tele- conferencing. It’s okay to periodically pipe a board member into the meeting when they are away on business, but as a general rule you want to encourage the board members to attend in person. The quality of the meeting will be dramatically improved if everyone is around a table.
8. Strive for unanimity but shoot for majority rule. It’s important that all board members agree on a decision, but this is not always possible. Unanimity is important for issues that are central to the core mission of the organization, but deciding by majority rule on other issues will help the organization move ahead in a democratic fashion.
9. Discuss potential conflicts of interest prior to a decision. Hopefully, your organization has a conflict of interest policy. Before a decision is made it’s imperative that the board ascertains whether there is any conflict of interest from any board member on this decision. This will prevent an embarrassment or worse later on.
10. Take five minutes to evaluate the meeting. At the end of the meeting take a few minutes to ask people how the meeting went. This process will give you excellent feedback and help with the flow and smoothness of the next meeting.