#Will your next meeting make it how to#

Sending updates in between board meetings allows your members to feel engaged in the company and requires less time for reports during quarterly meetings. When you’re talking about people’s opinions and the future, it generates discussion and excitement.” “This is where I’ve found the richest conversations among board members to be. “Ask your board members what decisions you should be making today to influence the trajectory of the business,” Aaron said. Then the knowledge of your board members can provide valuable outside opinions on one-year and three-year strategies.

#Will your next meeting make it how to#

Once you’ve outlined where your company has been in the last year and where it fits in with the competition, you’ll have context for how to create a long-term strategy. Since board meetings generally happen once a quarter, Aaron says it’s crucial to spend time looking at the landscape to identify problems and opportunities early.

To truly tap the expertise of your board, you’ll need to give them all the tools they’ll need to understand your company and your industry. The other two-thirds of your time should be devoted to strategy and education.

“What do you do with the rest of your time? Equally split it between forward-looking strategic topics of the business and educating your board.”Īaron recommends spending one-third of your time on the reports and metrics from last quarter. “Spend time on the qualitative as well as the quantitative issues in your organization,” Aaron said. In a recent survey, directors reported that their boards spend 28 percent of their time on strategy, and 52 percent of respondents said they would increase it. That leaves only 20 percent of time with forward-looking and strategic-looking things that a company is facing.”Īaron’s point touches on a common call to action from board members. “A company will spend 80 percent of its time reporting on things in the past. “One of the biggest mistakes I have seen working across different boards is how much of the time is allocated to backward-looking reporting, financial metrics, and operating metrics,” he said. I asked Aaron how he spends his time during a board meeting. As Aaron explained, the sweet spot is about four hours to ensure you have enough time to cover your material, but not so much time that you burn out everyone’s energy. You should aim for somewhere between three hours (on the low end) and six hours (on the high end). Just like anyone else, the law of diminishing returns on attention span applies to board members.