A well-planned and strategic agenda for your board sets the tone for your meetings. It ensures that your members are actively engaged in productive discussions and decision-making. It also facilitates sharing of new insights and perspectives. However, the secret to a successful board agenda is more than just creating the list of topics for your meeting. It requires a certain amount creativity, skill and discipline.
When you design your strategic board agenda be sure to set time limits for each item. This can prevent meetings from going over time and ensure that crucial issues get the attention they deserve. It’s also important to prioritize and balance the amount of strategic plans for the long term with reports and other business items. It’s often recommended to keep the discussion on strategic issues at the top of the agenda, leaving reports for the end so that your board can concentrate on the things that matter most to the business.
Consider www.freshboardroom.com/how-to-run-a-board-meeting/ bringing in an impartial facilitator or board member to help with the strategic planning. They can bring fresh perspectives to the discussion, and guide your board to adopt an approach that is more strategic when making decisions.
Distribute the agenda, as well as any other pertinent documents, to the board members prior to the meeting. This gives them the opportunity to read the documents prior to the meeting and be prepared with ideas for the meeting.