4 Steps to an Effective Board Meeting - Before and After You Leave The Meeting Room

We often hear Board Members and homeowners gripe about ineffective community meetings where nothing get's done. In response to these complaints we've developed a simple process we use to train our Board Members on holding effective and decision focused community meetings. We outlined this process in our recent Blog titled Decision Making at Board Meetings.

However, we also often find that although Board Members may hold successful meetings where many decisions are made, there is very little follow up that occurs after the meeting. Our manager's are held responsible for leading community meetings, keeping the Board focused on agenda items throughout the meeting, and carrying out the wishes of the Board after the meeting. We've developed a simple 4 step process to running effective Board Meetings - before and after you leave the meeting room.

Through our simple 4 step process we are certain your Board of Directors will get more accomplished not only during your regular Board Meetings, but once you walk away from the meeting room.

Here are the 4 steps your Board can take to ensure your meetings come to a productive close and result in effective action after you leave the meeting room. The list is short and simple because the process is simple.

1. Action Plan. Your Board should always create an Action Plan before every meeting. The plan should include key decisions to be made at the meeting, follow up steps after the meeting, identify responsibility for each task, and provide completion dates or deadlines. Your Action Plan should be kept to one page or less. Usually the President or Vice President will prepare the Action Plan.
2. Communicate quickly. Many times a Board will not communicate for weeks after a board meeting. This is not very efficient and causes everyone to lose momentum on accomplishing their assigned tasks. We suggest you get an e-mail out to meeting participants within 24 hours after the meeting, to ensure momentum is not dissipated. The e-mail can include meeting minutes or a simple summary of your Action Plan that reiterates the Board's goals and realistic deadlines.
3. Follow up. Your Board should assign a specific Board Member with the duty of following up. As deadlines approach this persons responsibility is to send out reminders to make sure everyone is on track. By following up your Board remains informed on the status of a project and whether or not the deadlines will be met. This will also help you prepare for future Action Plans and in setting realistic achievable goals in the future.
4. Inform. Once all the tasks have been accomplished or are nearing completion, inform the group of the status of each item. E-mail all Board Members the Action Plan for the following meeting and outline any further steps necessary, if any.

By making these 4 Steps to an Effective Board Meeting - Before and After You Leave The Meeting Room a part of every community meeting your association holds you will never again be accused of wasting people’s time, nor will you yourself have to sit through hour long meetings to accomplish very little.

We take pride in holding effective Board Meeting for our clients and in preparing our Board Members to do the same. Should you have any questions or if you would like additional information, please contact us!