Board Meeting Information:
Contrary to popular belief your board of directors do not make the majority of the decisions for your company. While they have authority for some high-impact areas (in a venture-backed firm and many of the decisions are listed in the investment and governance documents) the majority of important decisions are decided by committees or the CEO/management team with input from the board.
Board meetings tend to focus on policy, planning and oversight rather than business activities. However, a board’s decisions can have a profound impact on the business. It is therefore crucial to plan and conduct the board meetings in a manner that encourages open discussion and results.
The first step is making sure that all board members are well-informed. Distribute the materials to board members in advance to ensure that the attendees are familiar them with the material before the meeting. Ideally the documents should be simple and concise enough that they don’t need more than an hour of review.
Then, schedule time for the board to discuss. You might want to consider allowing attendees to submit brief comments or questions in open forums, and arranging time for guest talks from external stakeholders. Make time for boardroomideas.info/boardmaps-pricing-plan the consent agenda, one section where routine or noncontroversial topics may be approved by a simple motion and vote.
Lastly, communicate the decision-making process at board meetings. Decide if the goal is to reach consensus or if a formal voting procedure will be used and set clear criteria for evaluating concepts. This will allow everyone to be aware of their roles in the process, as well as the potential consequences of a decision-making procedure gone awry.