The Basic Rules for Conducting a Board Meeting

A board meeting is a necessary form of communication for any corporate management. This article will consider all the important nuances and take a closer look at the organization of the board meetings.

The purpose of the board meetings

Good board work starts with conducting board meetings. There are no legal requirements for this, but regular meetings have become a common practice in business. The meeting must be held regularly for the board to pass resolutions.

Such meetings should occur at regular intervals (approximately every 6-8 weeks) and are usually chaired by the chairman. In justified exceptional cases, further meetings can be convened upon the written request of one-third of the executive board members. The prerequisite is that the application specifically names the matters to be discussed at the board meeting. In addition, the reasons why it is not possible to wait until the next meeting must be explained.

In what form to hold a meeting, it is recommended to establish based on the importance of the agenda items. Choose a face-to-face format to resolve the most important issues (for example, a major transaction or early termination of the director’s powers) because it allows you to organize the discussion. For operational (directing the director on a business trip, making changes to existing lease agreements) – by correspondence.

Common rules for conducting board meetings

It is important to think about establishing clear rules for meetings. It helps immensely for the meeting culture in the company. For example, creating a list of the board meeting rules from scratch would be a good way to increase team engagement.

So, considering https://pathofex.com/what-is-a-paperless-board-meeting/  where the board meeting procedures are described, let’s define the common rules for conducting a successful board meeting:

  • The board of directors fixes the dates for the regular board meetings, if possible, by the end of each year for the coming year. The invitation, stating the time and place of the meeting, should be sent to all board members in advance so that everyone has a chance to attend. The agenda must be attached to the invitation.
  • After the meeting goal is defined and rules and procedures are established, a meeting agenda can be created. Because you’ll need to work with other members, the content will likely undergo multiple revisions as it is created. Meeting software allows the meeting agenda to be created quickly since a large part of the planning and the various roles in the meeting can be done simply with a click or drag & drop. Participants can see the agenda on their computer screen and approve changes if necessary – no matter where they are.
  • It is important to keep to the order of the individual top to keep the session within a certain time frame. If a board consists of many members, there is a high risk of lengthy discussions. The chairman’s task is to steer these discussions in a solution-oriented direction.
  • Issues that require a decision should be put to the vote and decided by a majority vote. So no one feels left out.
  • The plan of action and communication creates a sense of accomplishment. It also presents key decisions to the participants, helping ensure everyone perceives the information similarly.
  • Any executive board member can raise objections in writing to the content of the minutes within two weeks after delivery. Objections will be decided at the next board meeting. If no objections are raised by the end of the period, the minutes of the meeting are deemed to have been approved.