A meeting of the board of directors of a nonprofit organization must be informative and engaging. The best way to achieve this is to use clear communication that is focused on the organization’s mission and goals. Meetings can be dominated by lengthy updates from the organization or heated discussions on particular topics with one or two people (we all know who that is). The addition of a few extra board-room.info/10-characteristics-of-successful-board-relationships elements to the meeting could keep it lively and assist in helping board members stay connected to the mission of your organization. For instance the presentation of a client testimonial can be a powerful way to re-connect board members to your mission.
Check that the agenda for your board meeting is properly planned ahead of time. A facilitator at the meeting can assist, or an entire group of board members could take on the responsibility of preparing the agenda. Nothing kills a productive board meeting more quickly than board members who are trying to read important documents in the midst of discussions they discuss them or, even more important do not have the necessary documents available at all.
Boards should not be spending more than 25% of their meeting time on updates and “have to’s”. A lot of time is wasted by board members who are lost in the details of committee chair reports, officer reports and other routine items. Many of these issues could be reduced to 5-10 minutes, and easily included in a meeting packet or regular emailed updates to the board.