The board boardmeetingpro.net/how-boardpaq-is-changing-the-way-boards-understand-and-process-information/ of directors is accountable for governing a company. They make decisions and establish policies. In most organizations, the decision-making process is an overwhelming majority vote of the board. To facilitate an effective decision-making process, your board must have clearly established guidelines and meeting rules that everyone follows.
The meeting rules that the majority of 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 becoming chaotic. Although Robert’s Rules of Order is not required for every board to implement, formal guidelines can be used to establish an orderly framework that will allow for fair debates during meetings that are hybrid or virtual where directors might otherwise be lost among a maze of computer faces.
A key part of this is making sure that the agenda is concise and clear and requires well-written and written board papers that are drafted and distributed prior to the meeting to ensure that directors are prepared to discuss them. It is also essential to limit the amount of time devoted to reports and routine matters which can quickly drag the pace of the meeting.
Other meeting rules include limiting the number of times someone can speak on any motion (two minutes) and ensuring that all speakers remain relevant to the topic that is being discussed. Motions that are causing tension or a heated discussion can be voted off by the vote of two-thirds. Finally, to avoid unnecessary time, it’s crucial that all participants respect each other and do not undermine fellow members by slamming their motives, or expressing snide remarks.
