Good Board Meetings

Board/management committee meetings have a clear governance and decision-making role, and trustees themselves have many responsibilities and duties that can only be delivered whilst together in these meetings. However, trustees don’t come together all that frequently (e.g. five to six times a year) and their time is precious and should be used well. Ensuring that meetings are productive and well-run in order that the work gets done is an essential element of delivering good governance. The following is a suggested list of methods and tips for meetings to be productive.

Clearly define the purpose of the meeting

• Ensure there is a clear agenda and that the meeting’s objectives are clearly understood
• Use a template agenda that is designed to highlight what’s important, with guide timings for each item
• Develop a board work programme to shape each board agenda that is based on a template and can be reused annually
• Ues the board work programme to ensure jobs get done – e.g. biennial review of policies or production of the accounts etc.

Focus on clear areas for discussion and board decisions

• Amongst the trustees agree what can simply be presented in the form of a report for update and what needs focus, debate and decisions
• Ensure the chair is briefed about contentious items or where there is the need to have a debate that may need their energy and support to ignite and facilitate
• Within the board work programme deploy good judgement to shuffle items to future meetings to make time at an upcoming board with lots of decisions to be made, if required

Appoint and support a good chair

A good chair is essential to effective governance within a Scottish third sector organisation. The chair helps ensure trustees work constructively, meetings are well managed, decisions are transparent and disagreements are handled appropriately. A supported chair can encourage accountability, inclusion and strategic focus while helping maintain healthy relationships between trustees, staff and volunteers. Strong leadership and good governance culture are critical to organisational stability, public trust and the effective delivery of charitable purposes.

• The chair of an organisation is chosen for possessing a good range of skills and one of these must be the chairing of board meetings
• Attributes such as articulate communication, integrity, impartiality, delegation and patience are all essential to the role
• Senior staff and other trustees should be aware of the need to provide support for the chair with briefings, debriefs, reflection, providing opportunities to enhance skills and planning - all examples of support that may be useful and required
• A good chair's role description is always helpful

Good participation

• Ask trustees what can be done to make sure everyone has a say and that all voices feel heard
• Similarly, the chair should use their skills to ensure that everyone has their say, including making time to hear from quiet trustees and controlling trustees who seek to dominate a discussion
• It is every trustee’s responsibility to be inclusive and work well together
• Appoint a trustee mentor for new trustees to help them participate confidently

Good board papers

• Design board papers and reporting templates that match the requirements of common agenda items, e.g. report for updates, tables, charts, spreadsheets etc.
• Get volunteer and staff buy-in to produce papers on time for early circulation (e.g. one week before the meeting)

Manage time

• Time management is another skill that the chair should display – being empathic, but firm will attract respect and thanks
• Agendas can show guide timings to indicate where an update can be quick and a discussion can be lengthy, therefore indicating importance
• Check at the start of the meeting if anyone needs to leave early to avoid unexpected disruptive departures and decide an absolute finish time which may vary a little from that advertised if business is heavy. Stick to it.

Reflect, review and improve

• An annual questionnaire or agenda item asking trustees to consider how meetings are going and asking for strengths and weaknesses will be a useful exercise, but needs to be followed with change and actions

Action items

• Clearly record actions agreed, decisions taken and who is responsible for taking items forward
• As is traditional at the start of a meeting call for updates on actions recorded at the previous meeting that are not substantive agenda items to be covered later. However it is important not to fall into the trap of running the entire meeting based on 'matters arising'.

Hybrid meetings

• A mix of online and in-person meetings thought the year should be considered
• Align with the work programme/agenda and decide what occasional items match which format

Further resources and links

SCVO has a good governance section on their website where they explore the running of meetings

DIY Committee Guide - Running Effective Meetings (download)

OSCR - Top tips on what makes a good well managed charity (video)

OSCR - Meetings guidance

The TSI learning portal includes an online course - Effective meetings and minutes

For further free, well-informed information, find your local Third Sector Interface (TSI) at the directory page here