In our last post we discussed preparing for the board meeting and why it is important to get the meeting papers sent to the board members well in advance of the meeting.

Part of every board member’s preparation for the board meeting is to read the board papers thoroughly.

One of the added benefits of sending out the papers prior to the meeting is that it allows the board members to seek further clarification or obtain additional information prior to the board meeting.  Can you imagine how long a meeting might take if members did not receive their papers on time?  All their questions would have to be asked during the meeting and that can delay decision making until future board meetings.

If you belong to a large not for profit community, you may be dealing with some quite complex topics.  That means that the reports can be very detailed and take a considerable time to review.

As an example, in some cases a lengthy government report or policy document may be sent out to board members.  If this occurs then the CEO should include a briefing document or executive summary to highlight key points as well as explain the relevance and impact to the organisation.  In addition, the executive summary should be written in a way that shows the options that have been considered, the recommendations and in some cases a proposed motion.

Furthermore, be clear about the reason why the report is being sent out and whether it is for information purposes only, to be discussed during the meeting or that an actual decision needs to be made based on the recommendation contained in the report.

If yours is a small community your papers may not be quite so complex but it is worth remembering that the volunteer treasurer reports will still be hard for some committee members to understand.  The advantage of receiving the reports early is that it gives those committee members time to work through the figures.  Most of your committee members will probably be volunteers who juggle work and family alongside their voluntary roles.  Their preparation time is likely to be available in short bursts.  If they have the reports ahead of time, they will still be able to squeeze the reading of them into those little bursts of time.

It is also important that when the meeting takes place no additional report or information is tabled especially if a decision needs to be made.  The main exception to this point is when something critical arises once the board papers have gone out or there is a need to make an urgent and timely decision.

As one final point when preparing for the meeting is to double check that board papers, reports or any other information that is sent out aligns to the Agenda and allows the relevant decisions to be made.

While you shouldn’t have to force your board members to read their papers at arrow point, you may need to educate them on the importance of the papers and their own meeting preparation.  Proper preparation is the only way they will be able to discharge their responsibilities to the organisation.