How to Have Effective Board Meetings

Board meetings are a great opportunity for directors of nonprofit organizations to discuss a range of issues. They can cover everything from evaluating the performance an organization to discussing the future strategies. Nonprofits usually rely on advice of board members with different backgrounds and experiences to steer the organization to success.

For a successful board meeting, it is essential that everyone is prepared and has read the relevant documents prior to the meeting. Ideally, the agenda should be developed together and shared beforehand to ensure that participants have time to review the materials and prepare for discussions. It is crucial that the agenda contains enough information for the participants to to participate effectively.

Establishing clear decision-making criteria and communicating them to all participants helps the board to align discussions towards a common goal. This helps to avoid tangential discussions that eat up time during meetings and prevent the board from achieving a consensus or a vote on important issues. Technology tools that enable real-time collaboration data management make a lot easier for board members to communicate with one members and share documents even when they are geographically separated.

The ideal mix of board member can create a more productive atmosphere and make meetings more lively. It is important to select an equal amount of optimism and pessimism. It is also important to select a combination of youth and experience. Also, changing the location of meetings or the time of day may encourage discussion by energizing participants and taking them out of their regular routines. Also, assessing the quality of meetings at least once per year is critical to making improvements. Give each board member two sticky notes and ask them to rate the overall satisfaction of the meeting from + (what is working well) to – (what could be improved).