It is vital that a board meeting runs smoothly and that all issues are taken care of. The following procedure for board meetings can be used as a guideline to ensure that the meeting runs according to plan and all the essential points are covered.
The chair opens the meeting by welcoming any guests or new members and addressing any formal or personal matters. The board is introduced in a formal manner, and the officers are introduced.
Often, the board will receive an abundance of information between meetings in the form of committee reports and correspondence. The chair should set aside time to this during the meeting, but it is important to ensure that this doesn’t hinder the discussion on the more urgent issues.
Once the board has discussed the past performance and its associated success and failures, it will then discuss the future strategies. This will involve brainstorming ideas to help the company grow, develop and expand its market share in different departments. The board will then consider on the best approach to implement these strategies and develop action items for the management team to accomplish so.
Usually the board will be discussing any new business proposed by the board or the executive management. The board will also examine any old business that has not been resolved. The chair will then move to end the meeting.