4 Tips for Making Your Board Meetings More Effective

Everyone knows that in business, as in life in general, time is money. For large corporations, not-for-profits and Crown Agencies, a lot of time can be gained by having effective board meetings.

Here are some ways to increase the efficiency of your board meetings.

Get the latest Board Portal Technology

Make good governance your reality with the right board portal technology — by using the latest technology for your board meetings you can streamline communications in a way that’s truly effective and safe. You can save the busiest people at your company valuable time, and the latest encryption prevents malicious actors from hacking this sensitive data.

Even in the event a device equipped with board portal technology goes missing, the information itself can be wiped remotely because it’s stored on the Cloud. This also means that if the device is gone and you need to access important data, you can securely log in from any desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. This is one of numerous advantages to having paperless meetings, which are facilitated by the software.

Read documents and flag important passages with easy drag-and-drop features that are intuitive for all your fellow board of directors to use. Look for board portal software that comes with 24/7 support and training, so everybody on your board can use the software right away without difficulty.

Keep Meetings Focused

A lot of important work happens before and after the actual board meeting, and the meeting itself should reflect this to be structured efficiently. Here are a few broad guidelines to keep in mind: meetings need to have a clear agenda; supply supporting documentation so directors can get up to speed, but notsomuch that it eats up valuable time; prioritize the most important matters, usually the ones which require decisions to be made; finally, note which items are non-essential, and deal with them at the end of the meeting.

This is obviously a short list, and there are countless other suggestions which may help your company’s meetings run more effectively. Just make sure you find a structure that works for you.

Rotate Meeting Leaders

If the same person leads every meeting, other voices may not get to be heard as prominently. Rotating the person in control of the meeting may keep everybody energized, while also holding them responsible for sharing information and developing leadership skills.

Your board of directors is made up of your top decision makers, so they’re all more than capable of contributing to any meeting. But putting them in charge of one is a way to make sure everybody has a turn being the centre of focus.

Self-Assessment or Periodic Review

To improve meetings, poll board members on what can be done better. It’s important to get feedback on this process to make sure that time isn’t being wasted. Even the act of asking your directors for feedback makes them feel hopeful that future meetings will improve, and that their time is valued and used wisely.

If you keep board meetings organized, fresh, and occasionally seek to improve them, they’re sure to be a lot more effective. The latest board portal technology is also a big part in helping your organization streamline communications before, during and after the meeting.Keep these tips in mind and your meetings are sure to improve soon.