The board of directors is responsible to oversee the company’s operations. They take decisions and decide on policy. In the majority of companies, decisions must be made by a majority vote of the board. To ensure a successful decision-making process, your board should have clearly established meeting rules and guidelines that everyone follows.
The meeting rules that most boards adhere to are based on Robert’s Rules of Order, an English rules book for parliamentary meetings written by American General Henry M. Robert in 1876 in order to prevent meetings from turning into chaos. While implementing Robert’s Rules of Order may not be required for every board, the application of formal guidelines can to create a framework that will ensure an even debate in a virtual or hybrid meeting, where directors may otherwise feel lost in a jumble of faces displayed on the computer screen.
The most important aspect of this is ensuring that the agenda is clear and concise and requires well-written papers for the board that are drafted and distributed in advance of the www.boardmeetingpro.net/how-boardpaq-is-changing-the-way-boards-understand-and-process-information meeting so directors are ready to discuss the issues. It’s also important to limit the amount of time allocated to reports and routine issues, which can easily drag down the meeting.
Other rules of meetings include limiting the number of times an individual can talk about the motion (two minutes) and ensuring that the speakers are relevant to the subject to be discussed. If a particular motion is causing a heated debate or creating tension, a motion to close discussion can be made with two-thirds approval. Finally, to avoid wasting time, it’s vital that all attendees respect each other and do not undermine fellow members by attacking their motives or expressing snide remarks.
