How to Have Effective Board Meetings
Nonprofit directors are able to discuss a range of topics during board meetings. The topics can range from assessing organizational performance to discussing how the organization should take the next step in its future plans. Nonprofits often rely on the suggestions of board members who have diverse backgrounds and experience to help steer the organization toward success.
To ensure a successful board meeting, it’s crucial that everyone is well-prepared and has read relevant documents prior to the meeting. The agenda should be drafted in collaboration and shared with the board members prior to the meeting so that participants have time to review the materials and prepare for discussions. It is essential that the agenda contains enough information for the participants to be able to effectively participate.
The process of establishing clear decision-making guidelines and communicating them to all members helps the board focus discussions toward an agreed-upon goal. This helps to keep tangential discussions off the table that eat up time during meetings and prevent the board from achieving a consensus or deciding on important issues. Technology tools that facilitate real-time collaboration make it much easier for board members to communicate with each others and share documents, even if they’re geographically separated.
A well-balanced mix of board members will help to stimulate meetings and create more productive discussions. It is important to select an equal amount of optimism and pessimism. It is also important to select an amalgamation of youth and experience. In addition, changing up the venue and/or the time of day may encourage discussion by energizing participants and taking them out of their routines. In addition, assessing the effectiveness of meetings at least once per year is critical to making improvements. To do this, give each board member two sticky notes and ask them to rate their overall satisfaction with the meetings on a scale of + (what is working well) to -(what requires improvement).