Make your board preparation flow seamlessly to have the most productive meeting.
For board management members and small-business leaders, the quarterly or annual board meeting requires significant prep work. From concerns about presenting the right information to ensuring the meeting goes smoothly, board management meetings can be stressful and often time-consuming in the weeks leading up.
Board meetings are much more than your standard weekly stand-up. They need proper management and proactive planning to run smoothly. In order to have an effective board meeting, you need to know what to expect of the process leading up to the meeting, how to optimize it, and know the key challenges that you’ll face in order to avoid them.
What is the board meeting process?
Many board meetings are run in a similar format so it's easier to standardize the process. According to Gartner's Ignition Guide to Managing the Board Meeting Process, most board meetings follow a three-phase process, beginning about six to eight weeks before the meeting.[1]
Without this standardized process, your board meeting runs the risk of being scattered and inefficient, which can contribute to a poor relationship between small business executives and board members. When board management meetings are properly optimized, discussions can be fruitful, all parties are engaged and communicating well, and board members feel respected.
This in turn helps build a strong, working relationship, establishes trust between the board and senior leadership, and ultimately allows these two parties to work together in harmony to effectively run the business.
How to optimize your board management meetings
If this is your SMB's first board meeting, it might feel overwhelming to plan this entire process from scratch. Even if it's not your first rodeo, there are always ways for your board management meeting process to be improved.
Step 1: Develop your board meeting preparation timeline
First, set the meeting dates and establish firm agenda items. Then comes the largest part of board preparation: gathering materials and data. All teams need adequate time to gather these items, then to create decks and presentations, and practice. Board meeting preparation should not wait until a few days or even a week before the meeting.
Most timelines begin six to eight weeks out from the meeting date, and if it's one of your first board meetings, you might need more time than this. Issues can easily arise as you start preparing, so err on the side of caution so you don't miss deadlines for submitting board materials.
/ Pro tip
Create an annual meeting and calendar event in advance, so board and committee members know what to expect and can plan for it.
Step 2: Delegate ownership over board-level tasks
Your senior leadership team doesn't need to be in the weeds for weeks preparing detailed items. Delegate ownership of appropriate tasks to the legal department, financial department, or other business partners. Also, small-business leaders can delegate the entire board meeting process to an executive assistant or general counsel.
Step 3: Prepare meeting agendas
Establish relevant and timely meeting agendas that maximize strategic discussion. Consent agendas can quickly allow for approval of routine matters, and approval can be sent in advance so you don't waste meeting time on basic items.
Make sure that your agenda front loads any important strategic discussions that will require more time for the group to go through, and leave the less important, administrative things to the end, in case you run out of time.
Step 4: Create and distribute board packet materials
Once the agenda is established, and the presentation is complete, create board packets, standardizing the level of detail and the way information is organized so board members always know what to expect. At least 10 days prior to meetings, upload board packets to electronic board portals to reduce the time spent on logistics.
Distributing board packets in advance will allow board members to have time to review, offer feedback, and gather questions. Also, ask board members for feedback on the agenda items ahead of time, so you can tweak presentations as necessary to adequately address questions.
Step 5: Draft and distribute meeting reports including follow-up items
Minutes are essential to a board meeting. Typically, these are drafted in real time by the general council or secretary and should be circulated to all parties immediately after the conclusion of the meeting.
Formal minutes are more than just haphazard notes. The minutes taker should record start and end times, names of attendees present, action items, resolutions adopted, and note any time a director leaves the room and returns.
Step 6: Gather feedback to monitor board meeting process effectiveness
After the board meeting, gather feedback from executive leadership and board members to determine the effectiveness of your process. Especially if it's one of your first few times hosting a board meeting, there's probably lots you can improve. Your team can always send out the board pockets earlier, hone in on more strategic discussion items, and get comfortable with consent agendas for basic things that need to be decided upon.
Key considerations and common mistakes for board management meetings
Board management meetings are tricky to perfect, and there are plenty of common mistakes and pitfalls along the way to creating a highly optimized meeting.
1. Poor prioritization of agenda items
Undoubtedly, you've been in a meeting where the discussion goes too long on some of the first items, which leaves little to no time for important items later. Discussions can quickly become derailed or sidetracked, and without proper prioritization, boards sometimes over-index on administrative and routine items.
To combat this, craft the meeting agenda in order of importance, so the discussion focuses on the most important strategic initiatives first. Basic administrative items can be more easily finalized asynchronously if you run out of time to discuss them.
2. Board packets are distributed too late
Another common pitfall is distributing the board packets and materials too late. This leaves little time for board members to read through, offer recommendations, and provide feedback on data. For example, distributing materials 24 hours beforehand most likely means board members won't have time to read through them thoroughly.
The ideal timeline is at least 10 days in advance of the meeting, and establishing a standard timeline for this step is critical.
3. Board packets provide too little or too much information
Even if the board pockets are delivered on time, it can be difficult to decide what is too little and what is too much information. Executive presentations and packets should strike a balance between providing the necessary information without giving too much detail.
For example, the board might not need to see a line item breakdown of every marketing platform the team uses, but it might be helpful to see a high-level average return on the investment of marketing tools. To clarify even further, the board might not need to know that the customer helpdesk software costs $49.99 per month. It would be more impactful for them to understand that the customer helpdesk supports a 75% reduction in customer churn.
4. Executive leadership doesn't delegate preparation
Another common pitfall is that small business leadership will invest weeks of time solely focusing on board meeting prep. Many tasks can be delegated to supporting leadership, general counsel, accounting, and more.
When leaders get bogged down in the details, they are not able to effectively present from a high level. More routine details can easily be delegated to junior lawyers or other appropriate stakeholders.
Get ready for your next board management meeting
As a small-business leader, your goal should be to streamline the board meeting process and establish agendas that prioritize strategic action. The board is one of your best partners when it comes to running your small business, and proper management and optimization of that meeting allows for powerful discussions that impact the future of your company.
To optimize your board meetings, develop your preparation timeline, delegate ownership, prepare meeting agendas, send out packet materials in plenty of time, distribute formal minutes, and continuously gather feedback to improve your process. Below, we’ve provided a list to help remind you of what to do and what not to do when preparing for your board meeting in the future.
To improve your board meetings even further, check out the below resources: