How to Run a Board Meeting
New Guide: How to Run a Board Meeting
All the resources you need to run effective board meetings
Running a board meeting can be a complicated affair. Whether you are the board chair worrying about maintaining focus and facilitating engagement or the board liaison preoccupied with the difficulties of planning the meeting and creating board books, board meetings involve many carefully arranged parts and details. This guide demystifies the challenges of running a board meeting by breaking it down into 3 helpful sections: Roles & Responsibilities, Running an Effective Meeting, and Board Meeting Procedures. Throughout we cover the basics and best practices in how to run a board of directors meeting.
BOARD MEETING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Executive Director needs to be someone in whom the board chair has faith that the organization is in good hands, and who is open to constructive – and even occasionally critical – feedback that can elevate the organization’s performance. Fulfilling these seemingly straightforward requirements can be surprisingly difficult for CEOs. This may help explain many of the complexities that can make successful partnerships between executive directors and board chairs a rarity. With all of this in mind, and with this critical relationship at stake, this blog-post seeks to outline some of the challenges and responsibilities of the executive director / CEO as they relate to the board in general, and the board chair in particular.
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As a whole, the board is collectively responsible for moving the company towards forward progression by directing the company’s affairs. A Non-Executive Director shares many of the same responsibilities as an Executive Director, but he/she is not an employee of the company and is not a part of the executive management team. Non-executive Directors have the same legal duties and potential liabilities as their executive partners.
Regardless of the size of the company, a Non-Executive Director is someone who brings scope to the board, by offering a broad perspective of company and business issues, from someone who is independent from the day-to-day running of the company. Think of the Non-Executive Director as the eyes and ears of the business. The Institute of Directors notes that the Non-Executive Director brings objective criticism to the company.
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As a whole, the board of directors bears a legal responsibility to govern a corporation. Fulfilling that responsibility encompasses many individual roles and responsibilities. Each board member brings different strengths, talents, and abilities to the board. When board members merge their skills toward the mission and vision of an organization, it creates a synergy that makes the whole board greater than the sum of each individual’s contribution. Serving on a board requires time and dedication.
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The Board Chair is often seen as a meeting facilitator. In reality, the Board Chair responsibilities are far greater than that. The Board Chair maintains focus on what is best for the company or organization. He/she facilitates good board leadership and governance and sets the tone for the meetings. Working collaboratively with the CEO or Executive Director, the Board Chair molds the board’s culture and work. An effective Board Chair influences the direction and priorities of the board. It’s an active role that engages the board members, building upon each member’s individual strengths.
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The main responsibility of the Corporate Secretary is planning and preparing for meetings. At a minimum, this includes the following five areas: Scheduling, Agendas, Presentations, Executive Liaisons, and Documenting the Meeting.
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What are the responsibilities of the Corporate Secretary or Board Liaison?
RUNNING AN EFFECTIVE BOARD MEETING
It’s a rare meeting where the board of directors has enough time to accomplish everything that it needs to. Having an established and focused board meeting agenda helps the board maximize accuracy, efficiency, and productivity. Board meeting agendas include items for managing routine business and for tackling special projects.
Additional Resources:
Board Meeting Agenda Format and Template
How to Hold the Greatest Board Meeting Ever
The work of boards is incredibly important but also complex. The work of boards has many potentially destructive forces that haunt them. Boards are plagued by their own forces of destruction, which can wreak havoc on their work. These common board dysfunctions could comprise the “Four Horsemen of the Board Apocalypse,” represented by Waste, Fear, Boredom, and Addiction.
Besides the board dysfunctions described above, it is now more important than ever before that your board of directors is highly engaged in the mission and business of your organization. Over the past decade, the bar has been raised on board performance – it’s no longer sufficient (if it ever was) for board members to simply show up to meetings, nod their heads in agreement, and go home. Your stakeholders want tangible evidence that your organization is fulfilling its mission. Your board members – as the owners of your organization’s mission – are in the crosshairs of this scrutiny. Board engagement is critical. Although engagement is absolutely critical to governance, we still see many of the same mistakes made by boards.
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In much of life, less is more. This is true when it comes to the length of speeches, weeks of winter, consumption of natural resources, and strokes in golf (to name only a few examples). This is also true in regards to paper in the board room. This prior BoardEffect post offers a valuable framework and lays out some of the key considerations for HOW to manage the transition to Becoming a Paperless Board. Let us take a step back and pause to consider WHY a board would want to hold paperless meetings in the first place. Read more!
Additional Resources:
How to Sell Board Management Software to your Board
Leveraging Technology to Elevate Board Performance
5 tips for opening a board meeting:
- Allow time for members to get settled and focused.
- Provide a way for members to share what’s weighing on their minds.
- Include time for socializing
- Clarify each person’s specific role for the meeting.
- Take time to formally review and approve the agenda.
5 tips for running a board meeting:
- Start and end on time
- Ensure full participation, by all members
- Favor group discussion over “reporting”
- Tap into each member’s unique expertise
- Stick to Robert’s Rules for ease and fairness
BOARD MEETING PROCEDURES
Some of the minor duties of the board are so routine that they seem insignificant and perhaps, borderline annoying. The risk in not providing a timely notice of a board meeting is that if all of the directors cannot attend, those who were unable to attend may try to overturn the decisions that were made at the meeting. They may even have the right to demand a second meeting and no one will be happy with that.
The bylaws rule on whether the meeting notice has to be in writing or whether the notice can be sent by electronic or other means. Look to best practices to set a “reasonable” timeframe. This means giving enough time for directors to decide whether or not to attend the meeting and time to prepare documents for the meeting and agenda.
Additional Resources:
Notice of the Board Meeting: Regular and Special
What are the Responsibilities of the Board Secretary or Board Liaison?
The purpose of a quorum is two-fold—to make sure that board decisions are made by majority vote and to prevent a tie-vote of the board members. A common requirement for a board quorum is for 2/3 of board members to be present to conduct official business, though the bylaws may state any number. One of the first duties of the board chair is to determine if a quorum is present. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised offers a suggestion on how to set the rules for a quorum. It states that the quorum “should approximate the largest number that can be depended on to attend any meeting except in very bad weather or other extremely unfavorable conditions.”
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The board chair is primarily responsible for dealing with motions. To keep things democratic, board members have an equal responsibility for knowing how motions should be managed and for speaking up when protocol isn’t being followed. All board members need to understand the purpose, function, and protocol for various kinds of motions including main motions, subsidiary motions, privileged motions, and incidental motions. Clear motions equal clear actions!
Additional Resources:
How to Write a Motion for a Board Meeting
What is Board Meeting Protocol?
Managing Motions in Parliamentary Procedure
The board chair has the responsibility to clearly state a motion before the board. The chair asks for “yea” or “yes” votes and then “nay” or “no” votes. Board members usually give a voice vote, but votes can also be signified with a show of hands, standing to rise, or by ballot. Some bylaws require a vote by roll call. The board chair may elect to retake a vote when the results aren’t clear.
Additional Resources:
Research Report: U.S. Laws Governing Nonprofit Boards and Electronic Voting
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