Conducting Board Meetings With a Board Portal
Conducting board meetings is a task that requires attention to detail along with careful pacing and an awareness of how board members’ time is being used. To help with this, board management software tools like a board portal can assist in the preparation of agendas and other meeting materials prior to the meeting date and make them more accessible to directors, increasing the number of participants during discussions, and enabling board members to review their decisions and directives prior to the meeting.
The first step is to communicate clearly the decision-making procedure to the board. It is important to clearly define whether your board is likely to reach agreement, or use voting or another method of making decisions will ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them during the meeting. This helps avoid confusion, for instance, when the director raises an issue that was already discussed in a previous meeting.
After the resolution of old business, board will then move to new items on the agenda. It is important to respect the other board members’ right to speak as with any discussion issue. Chairs should only allow one director to speak at a given time. The chair of the board must manage the discussion, facilitating the discussion and making sure that all board members are present.
The board is then able to vote on any new business item and then records the results in the official minutes of the meeting. If a member isn’t happy with the outcome of the vote, they may ask to reconsider the decision or request that the issue be referred to a committee for further consideration.