Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWe seem to be very bad at prioritising meetings within organisations; we seem to be driven by knee jerk reaction rather than common sense, although I wonder if it should be more accurately described as uncommon sense. This is especially true of the SME sector, where board meetings seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Some of this is due to owner managers having little or no understanding of what as board meeting should cover or how to manage a meeting of this type. In my opinion a board meeting is the most important internal meeting a company can have. It is probably the only setting where strategy is discussed and policies made. It is not a place where detailed operational decisions are made, but in my experience this is all often what is discussed. This leads to confusion in the minds of participants and doubts about its importance/relevance and results in questions like don’t we cover this in the operations / marketing/ finance meeting?
So what are board meetings about? They’re the meeting that set the direction for the company, confirm policy, and directs the business response to unforeseen events either external like for example a significant change in market conditions or the arrival of a new or stronger competitor. The unforeseen events maybe internal like the loss of key staff or a major issue with sales or production. To get the best out of these meetings they should be held regularly and it should involve a review of the company’s performance.
So the problem with board meetings is simply that they’re not understood and not taken seriously so they can’t deliver the benefits to the business they should.
Exigent Consulting specialises in providing Business Turnaround, Sales, Marketing and Mentoring to the Small and Medium Business. We help Business Owners improve the profit performance of their business.
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Hmmm I don't know many SME's with enough board members to even have a board meeting !
ReplyDeleteYou only need two people to hold a board meeting and board meetings can be attended by anyone as long as they are co-opted by a director. You may not be aware but it is a legal requirement for ALL limited companies to hold at least 1 board meeting a year.
ReplyDeleteThese are very valid comments in relation to SMEs. My experience is that there are two main problems with lack of board meetings in this sector. The first is that a great number of small & medium companies simply don't have a coherent strategy & don't know how to establish one or monitor its progress.
ReplyDeleteThe other main reason stems from a belief that all meetings are either bad or must be short. The purpose of a meeting is to solve problems and reach decisions; the time it takes to achieve these things is very much of secondary importance to the quality of the decisions reached.
Too many owners are in the Johari box where they don't know what they don't know.
Regards
Tony Armstrong
http://theretrospectiveentrepreneur.wordpress.com