Avoiding Common Mistakes in Board Directors Meetings

A well-run board directors ‘ meeting allows your board to make informed and ethical decisions. The board must be able to review documents, discuss and come to a consensus on complex issues. Documentation is essential to allow for future reference and to ensure compliance. The process can be challenging to navigate, but making sure that the board is making the most of its time and resources is vital for your organization’s success.

Board work can be exciting as well as exhausting all at the same time. Avoid these common pitfalls to keep meetings productive.

1. Re-reading discussion points from the previous meeting

Reliving the discussions from the last board meeting will take up time and distract from the most pressing agenda items. Also, you won’t be able to achieve your goals for the meeting if you get sidetracked with new topics to discuss. If you have to discuss an issue that wasn’t scheduled for discussion, have the group agree to bring it to the close of the meeting and make the agreement to review and reconsider whether the topic should be researched further, added to the next agenda or assigned as an assignment.

2. Sharing too much information

Board members need to be well-informed, but the board’s agenda should be designed in a way that will encourage discussion and provoke questions, and not function as a comprehensive exposition of every piece of information available for the board’s consideration. It could appear as if the board is acting as a teacher in the pre-school years, but it allows them to concentrate on the important decisions.

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