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Thoughts & Ideas

1. Produce high quality board reports

Board reports are usually the key tool for the organisation to be reporting to the Board and they contain the information upon which Boards make decisions. Board reports usually relate to a decision or policy to be made by the Board. The board report should set out the options available and an assessment of the options in relation to the organisation's strategic direction and the risks involved in the decision. High quality reports provide for high quality decisions.

2. Place the most important items at the top of the agenda

The traditional agenda order starts with minutes of the last meeting followed by information reports from key officers. Very often, reports on new policies or key decisions are listed at the end of the agenda. The result is that the Board spends too long listening to reports of past events from staff and not having sufficient time to discuss key decisions or policy issues.

3 Hold meetings in interesting venues

Most organisations are working in very interesting operating environments. Rather than holding the board meetings in the same board room every time, consider holding the meetings somewhere else, such as the remote offices of the organisation, in the office of a key stakeholder, wherever your community is located. This will facilitate learning about more aspects of your organisation's operation, the operations of your stakeholders or the lives of your community. When Business East was operating, meetings were held in council offices across the eastern Melbourne region, at the Hawthorn Football Club rooms, at the Warburton Hospital, at major companies like NEC and an AGM where the Puffing Billy train was the transport to a meeting room on the train line.

4. Allocate informal discussion time

Make a time at the beginning or end of the meeting for directors and/or staff to discuss issues informally. This is a good way to identify issues that may be coming up in the future or may be dealt with more formally at a future meeting. It is also a good way to build relationships and a sense of team.

5. Annual schedule of topics

There are some issues that every board needs to ensure that they address regularly, such as risk management, occupational health and safety and strategic directions. A common strategy is to develop a list of key topics and allocate these to an annual agenda. This way the board is assured that key reports will be brought forward on an agreed timetable. It also spreads the reporting load for the staff.