Board Meeting Information
Contrary to popular belief your board of directors does not make the majority of decisions for your company. They are, however, able to make decisions on a few high-impact areas (in the case of a venture-backed company, many of those decisions are made in the investment and governing documents) The majority of the important decisions are determined by committees or by the management team of the CEO with the input of the board.
Board meetings usually focus on planning, policy and oversight tasks rather than business activities. Nevertheless, a board’s decisions can have a significant impact on the business. Therefore, it’s important to plan and conduct the board meetings in a manner that encourages a constructive discussions and produces positive results.
To ensure that the board is well-informed, it’s important to make boardroomideas.info sure all members are informed. Distribute materials for the board ahead of time so that attendees can familiarize with the materials prior to the meeting. The documents should be brief and clear enough to take no more than an hour for review.
Then, schedule time for the board to discuss. It is possible to allow attendees to share brief remarks or questions in an open forum, and scheduling time for guest presentations from external stakeholders. Make sure you set aside time for a consent agenda -an area of the meeting in which routine or non-controversial items may be ratified with the simple motion and vote.
Also, during board meetings discuss the procedure for making decisions. Make a decision on whether you want to reach consensus or use the formal voting process and set clear criteria for evaluating new ideas. This will enable everyone to recognize their roles and the possible consequences of a wrong decision.