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The best way to find out if your board meetings are an engaging and effective use of your board’s time is to periodically conduct a meeting assessment.

This tool is designed to benchmark where you are currently and generate ideas for continual improvement. At the end of a board meeting, have board members complete the assessment anonymously.

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Over the course of the year, the Board of Directors must engage in a variety of important conversations and make critical decisions about the organization.

A board calendar is a helpful tool for ensuring that these conversations and decisions happen at the appropriate time: for example, preparing and approving the year-end financial statements in advance of the annual general meeting.

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Annotated agendas highlight the preparation required to ensure an engaging and productive meeting. For each agenda item, there is a note that explains the reading or preparation required, whether it is a decision, discussion, or information item, and then captures the concrete actions and follow-ups for that item.

The preparation required to put together the annotated agenda is valuable because it forces the chair or Executive Director to make good choices about what to spend time discussing, and to inform the board of what the intended outcome for each agenda items.