We’ve all experienced it. Staff, contractors, or member volunteers have labored feverishly to produce a concise policy document or a mission-critical project update. It’s sent sufficiently in advance to the Board or Committee for pre-read…multiple times…with reminders. And when that part of the agenda comes up, crickets.
Sending a Board or Committee material in advance is an essential process for effective governance and decision making, but why does it so often not work? What can be done to help Board or Committee members prepare better for important discussions?
Here are three mindsets that keep Board and Committee members from preparing, and a few ideas that may help them care enough to come to the meeting ready for discussion.
Unclear Expectations
Face it, Board and Committee members can be some of the busiest people in any organization. Most are member volunteers with demanding day jobs. Getting 60-90 minutes on their calendars is a challenge in and of itself. Whether they read advance materials may be partly due to time constraints, which you can do little about, and partly due to expectations set when they join the Board or Committee.
The likelihood of a volunteer contributing to a Board or Committee when they have no idea what’s expected of them is low. They might have great ideas, but if no onboarding process clearly defines expectations, then they may “show up” but may not be prepared. Preparation (i.e., paying attention) is an element of the duty of care principle corporate Boards should follow. If you do not set the expectation that preparation is a non-negotiable when a new Board member joins, you will get what you ask for…limited preparation.
Lack of Ownership
Most Board and Committee members have their own priorities for joining. They engage in topics related to their own priorities, but they depend on others to own everything else. The key is helping members to care about other priorities. Increasing a member’s ownership of other topics will often increase their interest in reading materials in advance of a particular topic.
A proven method for increasing ownership is selecting 1-3 members of the Board or Committee to socialize the topic (and supporting materials) well in advance of the meeting. Socializing isn’t just making them aware; it’s gaining sufficient support that they would read the materials and come ready to discuss. Effectively, it’s building “topic champions” in advance so, at a minimum, you have a few people who will come prepared to lead the discussion. This takes time, but if you have two champions for each agenda item, your meeting will turn from crickets to active discussion very quickly. And a note of thanks for being a champion will go a long way toward having more champions for future topics.
Wrong Agenda Topics
Executive Directors or Committee Leads don’t always get it right. Sometimes, a lack of preparation is because the topic just doesn’t matter to the decision makers. Is the topic too operational and not sufficiently strategic? Is the topic too big or too complicated? Can it be broken into bite-sized pieces for discussion over time? Is the topic’s end-goal or decision requested crystal clear?
Sometimes, the best approach to increase preparation is to make sure the agenda reflects the topics and the level of detail that Board and Committee members can reasonably digest and act upon. In short, make sure the agenda reflects what is important for the leadership of the organization. A strong Board Chair or Committee Lead can be a great sounding board for creating the right agenda.
These are just a few hints. There are other, more obvious ways to negatively affect preparation. Wait until two days before the meeting to send pre-read materials, or don’t send gentle reminders. Make the length of those materials something that can’t be digested in a few minutes. Don’t provide any summary information in the cover emails or online sites from which they obtain pre-read materials.
While it’s impossible to give Board or Committee members more time to pay attention to topics or materials, it is possible to set proper expectations, increase ownership, and ensure the right topics are discussed. Employing these ideas will help the Board and Committee to arrive ready for discussion and decision making.