Three steps for inclusive, impactful board meetings
Take a minute to consider…
How long DOES it take — to design an inclusive and impactful board meeting?
5 minutes, or 30 minutes?
An hour, a week?
3 months, 6 months?
A year?
We asked this question at a recent presentation we led for the TriValley Nonprofit Alliance.
Most participants agreed that it would take longer than five minutes.
At least one person said that it should take a similar length of time as the meeting itself – maybe an hour or two.
And a few people said, “It’s fluid.” Or “Possibly a year.”
Could it really take A YEAR to design one board meeting?
What do you think?
If you figured out that this is a trick question, you’re right.
There are no quick fixes
It takes thought to arrive at impactful and inclusive board meetings.
As facilitators and board consultants, we hear about a lot of ideas for better meetings – clearer agendas? Robert’s Rules of Order (in which we don’t believe)? Incentives for starting and ending early?
So here’s the thing – without working on the underlying cultural and structural issues, none of this will work.
What does work to build and lead inclusive and impactful meetings?
After “meeting” hundreds of boards over many years, we have developed three areas for boards to focus on to do better work.
1. Formal Practices
These may include:
Orientation for new members
Sharing board bylaws with all board members
Board member contract with clear board responsibilities
Term limits
Committee assignments and work outside of board meetings
Meeting agreements
Strategic meeting agendas
Next steps and meeting minutes shared after meetings
Clarity about board fundraising responsibility
Board goals and/or strategic plan
Yearly Board Assessment
2. Informal Practices
These include:
Relationship building
Compassion
Empathy
Trust building
Willingness to disagree
Room to fumble – opportunities to repair
Meeting agenda & materials structured for diverse participation styles
3. Incorporating Equity
This means that:
People who are closest to the problems are weighing in on the solutions
Systems are shifted so that people who have been outside of power have power
Board members have the ability to talk about race, racism, disability, privilege
Board and staff believe that, “Nothing about us, without us”
How well is your board doing?
Take some time to assess your board on a scale of 1-3 in these three areas: 3 means you’re doing very well, 1 means you have a lot of work to do.
Then find the total of those three numbers. This number, between three and nine, should help you understand how much work your board has in front of you to build inclusive and impactful meetings.
What was your total? Use this information to start a conversation with board members about doing better work. Or contact us if you need support in any of these areas.
This is part 1 of a four-part series:
Part 2, What Formal Practices Can and Can’t Do for Board Meetings