Preparing for effective board meetings

A guide for CEOs, founders, and other leaders to get the most out of every board meeting

On some regular basis (usually quarterly, sometimes monthly or at another cadence), the executive leadership of every company meets with its board of directors. Naturally, there are high expectations to share effective updates with the board. Even more so, there’s an opportunity for CEOs and leadership teams to engage their board members, generate support, and get expert advice – provided that you think ahead and take the right actions to prepare for and conduct great board meetings.

In Pracademic Coaching’s executive coaching practice, we work with CEOs, founders, and leadership teams to get the most possible value from their board meetings. This blog post includes many of the lessons we share with our coaching clients, and it uses our unique approach: think ahead to act now. It starts with adopting the right mindset (psychological approach) and continues through a suggested preparation timeline (practical guidance) to get the most out of your board meetings.  

Adopt the right mindset: “get to” vs. “have to”

While there is an inherent obligation to conduct board meetings on a regular basis, it can be far more motivational to think of these meetings as opportunities. Instead of approaching board meetings with a mindset that you “have to” report to the board – think instead that you “get to” engage with the board.

Almost always, board members are highly successful, accomplished professionals in their field. Your board likely includes at least one partner from each venture capital (VC) firm or similar that invests in your business. VCs get to know a lot of companies, often in the same industry as yours. Your board may also include subject matter experts, who perhaps have previously run businesses similar or adjacent to yours.

Whatever your business is facing, your board members are likely to have seen it (or something like it) before. If you choose the right information to share with them, you “get to” take advantage of their pattern recognition, lessons learned, and expertise.

With this mindset, it’s a matter of preparing well to make sure you get the most from each board meeting.

Deliver on your prior commitments

Preparation for your next board meeting starts with the commitments you made during the last one. Every board meeting generates a set of next steps. Be sure to document these and assign owners.

It may sound obvious, but the next step is to deliver on those commitments. Not every next step is a simple task that can be checked off a list. Some may require complex, cross-functional initiatives. Some may require the involvement of third parties. In all cases, treat these commitments with the highest importance.

For those next steps that are on the critical path of your business, it may be appropriate to share updates with the board between meetings. This is especially true if new risks or challenges arise. Remember that you “get to” take advantage of their expertise.

Keeping your board members informed and demonstrating that your leadership team delivers on its commitments are among the surest ways to earn confidence. As pre-work for the next board meeting, plan to succinctly communicate the status of all commitments made during the last one.

Establish a mantra for each board meeting

In an average-duration board meeting, say 2 to 4 hours, there are hundreds of data points shared and discussed. It’s commonly believed that adult attention span is roughly 10-20 minutes. In a very famous psychology study, George A. Miller found that most people can hold between 5 to 9 chunks of information in their short-term memory at any given time. (This is known as Miller’s Law.)

Both duration and volume of information are huge challenges to keeping a board meeting focused on a meaningful message.

An effective strategy is to establish a mantra for each board meeting. What is the one key message your board members should take away from the meeting? It should ideally be no more than a sentence or two. It should be memorable and repeatable.

Every member of the leadership team who is presenting at the board meeting should know this mantra by heart. It should be the guiding message of each section of the deck, no matter who is making the slides or presenting them live.

The data you choose to present should support the mantra. If you have information to share that does not align to the mantra, ask yourself if it needs to be a part of the board presentation. If yes, either connect it to the mantra or refine the mantra accordingly. If no, consider removing it or including it as an appendix.

Ensure your message is balanced

Having a mantra for the meeting does not mean the message should be overly positive. While it's essential to highlight successes, it's equally important to address challenges and setbacks transparently.

A mantra might be something like: “Our launch of feature X has correlated to a Y% increase in YoY new user subscriptions. The CAC was higher than expected, but we have a strategy to lower it.”

Board members expect a balanced perspective. They can provide valuable guidance on how to overcome issues. And sharing challenges is an opportunity for you to earn confidence in how you make decisions to resolve such problems.

Lead by letting your team shine

There are numerous reasons to share the responsibility of preparing and presenting board materials among the executive team.

• Board members like to know the executive team, not just the CEO. While the CEO is always the board’s main point of contact, hearing from other leaders gives the board more insight into how the company is run.

• The most confident CEOs know that when their team members shine, the positive impression reflects back on their leadership.

• Executive team members feel a sense of ownership and pride in their work when they “get to” engage directly with the board.

• It’s simply a ton of work to prepare a great board presentation. Sharing the workload makes it a little bit easier.

• Collaborating to create and deliver a solid board presentation is an opportunity to build alignment among the leadership team, challenge each other constructively, and succeed together.

Taking a team approach to board presentations is truly a win-win-win situation.

Anticipate questions and objections

Of course, the board meeting is not a one-way presentation where the team talks at the board members and then exits. Board meetings are discussions, often spirited ones, where board members ask questions to dig deeper.

It’s their fiduciary responsibility to ensure the company is making sound decisions, and acting responsibly to grow the value of their investment. So it’s absolutely reasonable to expect challenging and direct feedback.

A particularly effective approach is to consider the presentation from each board member’s unique perspective, and anticipate questions they will ask and objections they will raise. For each board member:

• What do they care about most with regard to the content and data being shared?

• Have we provided enough detail for them to understand our approach?

• Will they have objections, and how might we address them?

Write these questions down and craft your responses carefully. Have supporting data ready to share. It’s a great feeling when a board member asks a question you’ve anticipated, and you can deliver a confident and articulate answer, especially with data to support it.

Doing so will inspire confidence, and ensure the conversation remains productive and collaborative.

Ask your board members for help

In the same way you should anticipate your board members asking you questions, you should have thoughts prepared on what you will ask of them.

As noted above, you “get to” engage with these highly knowledgeable experts. They are a valuable resource, providing experience, expertise, and connections that can benefit your company.

Don't hesitate to ask for their help and insights. Be specific about the type of assistance or guidance you need from them.

Run a tight agenda

A well-structured agenda is crucial for maintaining focus and ensuring that you cover all essential topics during the board meeting. Allocate appropriate time to each line item and avoid getting bogged down in lengthy discussions. Assign follow-ups for topics that require additional attention, and ensure that you have clear take-aways from each agenda item.

Facilitating a well run meeting is yet another way to earn confidence in your leadership, and appreciation from your (very busy) board members.

Ask for feedback after the meeting

Finally, don't overlook the importance of post-meeting feedback. After the meeting concludes, reach out to board members individually to gather their insights. If a quick call is not possible, send them a brief survey.

Ask the standard retrospective questions:

• What went well?

• What didn't go well?

• How can you improve for the next meeting?

Thank them for their feedback, which gives you the opportunity to improve. Spend time with the responses to truly understand ways you can do better. Incorporate this feedback to make each subsequent meeting better than the last.

Begin preparing early

Looping back to the beginning, the preparation for the next board meeting starts at the prior instance, by capturing next steps and following through on your commitments.

Beyond that, you should start preparations for the next meeting about 4 weeks out. Here's a timeline to guide your preparations:

• 4 weeks out: Start working on your mantra and outline your presentation. Delegate sections to your leadership team.

• 3 weeks out: Have a rough draft of your presentation, including initial data (which may be incomplete).

• 2 weeks out: Conduct your first dry run to identify areas for improvement.

• 1 week out: Have preview calls with your board members to gather their input and gauge their reactions. Refine accordingly.

• Meeting day: Run a tight agenda, ensuring appropriate time for each item and assigning follow-ups instead of problem-solving in the meeting.

• Post-meeting: Solicit feedback from board members. Ensure next steps have clear ownership and commitments will be honored for the next meeting.

Start working with our executive coaching practice today

At Pracademic Coaching, our executive coaching practice specializes in helping CEOs, founders, and leadership teams navigate complex challenges and achieve peak performance. Our unique blend of practical and theoretical knowledge can empower you to make informed decisions that drive your startup's success.

Start thinking ahead and acting now to achieve your goals. Contact us today to set up a free coaching consultation.