Board meetings vary in structure dependent on the composition and function of each board. Some meetings are formal and adhere to strict guidelines for parliamentary procedure (Call to Orders, Motions by Members and so on.). Some meetings are more informal and can be held in any location such as the CEO’s house or a restaurant. Whatever the venue the board meeting must contain certain essential elements.

A new board meeting must begin with the presiding director taking care of any logistical issues (date time, place of the meeting and meeting link, or video conference etc.) Also, any announcements, awards or shout-outs may be held.

After all the logistics are handled After the logistics are taken care of, the chief executive goes on to discuss any issues or board meeting structure concerns about the company’s performance in recent times. The C-suite as well as other managers, can share their thoughts and opinions on past performance and the future strategy. It is vital that the board creates unified strategies to help the organization expand across all departments and increase their market reach.

The board must then concentrate on creating action items that each chief officer will communicate to their departments. This could be as easy as improving the sales process or as complicated as developing a new client onboarding protocol. The board should also choose key performance indicators (KPI) to measure success against. The board will vote on all decisions that need to be approved. Once the votes are recorded, the board may adopt a decision that was not approved by a majority vote, or reconsider the meeting.