The core purpose of a board in any organization (whether a non-profit or a corporation) is to ensure these basic things:
However, smooth corporate governance is always up against challenges of different types. According to a study, there are several factors that adversely affect the board's effectiveness. Some of those factors include management and administration issues, including irregular meeting schedules, lack of formal structure, lack of openness, trust issues, and high levels of formality between board members.
The question is, how to minimize these hurdles to ensure better governance? Today, we are going to mention some unusual boardroom tips that can boost the board's effectiveness.
Board meetings are decision-making activities, which is why it is utterly important to circulate a well-structured meeting agenda among board members ahead of time. Obviously, the management prepares the meeting agenda, but the problem is the meeting agenda usually contains too much information (sometimes unnecessary data) and unnecessarily detailed reports.
Most of the board members usually read the summary and rarely go through all those long pages of the meeting agenda. Therefore, the board management needs to prepare a concise, yet comprehensive meeting agenda. One way to prepare a well-structured agenda is to prepare the initial draft, quickly circulate it to board members through virtual board software, get suggestions, make amendments, and prepare the final draft.
If the board members only communicate in board meetings, it is the first sign of ineffective board management. Board practices are constantly evolving, and regular communication is a critical aspect of modern board governance.
Corporations compete in highly competitive markets now, and things can change very quickly. If the management leaves everything to board meetings, things won't go well.
But the question is, how can management help board members communicate regularly and safely? It is obvious that board members deal with highly confidential company data, and communicating over unsafe channels is not a wise thing to do.
One of the best solutions to counter these problems is to employ board management software — a highly secure virtual platform specifically designed for board members. Board portal software can help management arrange board meetings regularly without affecting the schedules of board members. Want to know more about the best ways to host an efficient online board meeting? Follow this link https://boardroommind.com/virtual-board-meetings/
It is essential to understand that board members are human first and then anything else. Yes, they are supposed to govern a corporation, but it is also vital for board members to connect as humans.
For starters, it is important for the chairman of the board and CEO to establish a sound relationship with board members. Then, board management needs to understand that every board member has unique skills and expertise, and they can contribute differently. All of this can be done through open and transparent communication, both synchronous and not.
Management teams need to realize that diversity is not a threat; it is a blessing. Board members with diverse skills and backgrounds bring more options and creative ways for governance. So it is essential to have "difficult" conversations with them.
If the management is not ready for having these difficult conversations, this may lead to suppression of personal opinions. However, it is also important to make sure that the "difference of opinion" and creative governance recommendations leads to the achievement of organizational objectives.
The board of directors consists of strong personalities. These people are chosen by shareholders or investors, and they take pride in it. Therefore, the board needs someone with strong chairing abilities.
The board chairman must be good at doing these things;
As mentioned earlier, effective board management is simply impossible without trust and respect between board members as well as other staff in attendance. There are different ways to do that. For instance, board members can set mutually agreed behavior benchmarks, maximize team bonding through regular communication over secure channels (such as a virtual boardroom), etc.
Everything mentioned above is simply useless if the boardroom fails to produce clear outcomes and accountable actions. Every board meeting must reach a conclusive and practical plan of action. Board meeting minutes must clearly define individual and collective responsibilities of board members with practical deadlines and measurable deliverables. This brings transparency and accountability.
The organization board is not a combination of machines; it consists of humans, and board management should treat them accordingly. Let the board members get acquainted on a personal level, respect their diversity, and give them equal opportunity to express themselves. But all of this should not come at compromising organizational objectives.
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