If you’re reading this post, then you’re likely a board member of a homeowners association or condominium association or the manager tasked with preparing for and chairing a board meeting. At DHN Attorneys, our clients include not only community associations, but multiple businesses in Central Florida, including Fortune Inc. Fast 500 companies and large charities. These companies, like our community association clients, are required to run board meetings.
There are very simple tactics that you can employ to complete your goals, fulfilling your members’ expectations, and fostering a sense of accomplishment within your board.
We get it; serving on a volunteer board can be frustrating and time-consuming. But with preparation and cooperation from all participants, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are very simple tactics that you can employ to complete your goals, fulfilling your members’ expectations, and fostering a sense of accomplishment within your board. We’ve leveraged our experience representing businesses and communities alike to condense our advice into these 5 tips:
Either as a volunteer board member, or as the licensed community association manager, you should recognize that one of the biggest resources that your community association has is your time. Approximately 95% of the meetings that we attend occur after business hours, meaning that your board members are often attending these meetings after a long day of work, and often before they’ve had dinner. The task becomes infinitely more worthwhile if time is used effectively.
This starts well in advance of the meeting. The manager, chair, or whoever is responsible must prepare the agenda and board meeting package (financials, delinquency report, violation report, vendor contracts for review, etc.) well in advance of the meeting. Additionally, board members must be encouraged (if not outright required) to review and become familiar with the information prior to the meeting. The meeting itself cannot be the first time that a board member is reviewing the information. If your community is anything like the hundreds of other communities and companies we represent, there’s simply too much information to effectively and efficiently digest at a meeting. The earlier the information can be disseminated the better.
The agenda itself should take the majority of your preparation time. It must be tailed to the meeting and the specific goals that the board is looking to accomplish. We have found that assigning specific time frames for agenda items is very helpful in managing and maintaining the flow of the meeting. While some attendees may be frustrated with the rigid structure, keep in mind that your time frames are only to be used as a guide, not a strict requirement.
Lastly, start on time! Too many boards wait for all directors to arrive before starting, even though a quorum can already be established. You have to respect the time of the directors who are punctual. As soon as the clock ticks to your start time, and you have a quorum, the meeting should be called to order so as to stay in line with the time frames you proscribed.
Many times, a board member will ask that the manager or chair of the meeting place a matter on the agenda, or an agenda item will be tabled to the subsequent meeting. If you’re the person asking for the matter to be on the agenda for the next meeting, presumably it’s a matter of importance to you, but you are unable to make the decision alone and you need input from your board members.
If you need advice from others at the board meeting, you need to set forth and outline your position clearly and concisely. Be prepared to effectively communicate the importance of the issue and outline a recommended course of action with support. If you leave the matter open-ended and simply ask for input, the conversation is more likely to veer off course or even become argumentative. If you can convey that this is an issue to which you’ve given a lot of thought and to which you can support with facts and arguments, your fellow board members will often defer to your expertise on the matter.
We represent many area small businesses, and the mentality that these entrepreneurs bring to their board meetings should also be applied to board members. When you’re in a meeting with your neighbors and people that you’ve known or become friendly with, it is easy to lose sight of your goals for the meeting. Remember: the goal of the board meeting is to make business decisions.
As a board member, you are tasked with running a business with an annual budged often exceeding 7 figures. All board members must treat the meeting like a business meeting, because the decisions you make will affect you and your neighbors financially.
Remember: the goal of the board meeting is to make business decisions.
An effective way to do this is to ensure that the meeting is about making decisions, and not merely about updates. Board meetings too often become information overload, which limits time for important conversations and gathering input necessarily for making decisions on critical agenda items. Updates are great, especially if following up from a prior meeting, but they should not take priority over action or consent items.
Save any socializing with fellow board members or any attendees until after the meeting has adjourned. Once you arrive at the meeting site, and the clock hits the time, you should be in full business mode!
While we recognize that everyone has responsibilities outside of these board meetings, the quicker that the board meeting minutes can be drafted up and distributed, the more likely the goals will be accomplished. Unfortunately, often, we see that meeting minutes from a prior meeting are not drafted until the day before the next meeting. What happens then when the board has authorized an action or a director was tasked with following up, but were given no follow-up until the day of the next meeting?
To the extent it is humanly possible, you should endeavor to draft and distribute minutes to all board members within 24-48 hours of the board meeting. With the conversation from the prior meeting fresh in everyone’s minds, this sets the expectations for each board member going into the next meeting.
We find it helpful to use the copy of the meeting agenda as a guide for taking notes and preparing the minutes. If you are the one preparing the meeting minutes, it may be helpful to highlight or bold any action items in order to immediately bring it to attention of the reader. Use these meeting minutes that you’ve just drafted to then prepare a first draft of the next board meeting agenda.
While we recognize that everyone has responsibilities outside of these board meetings, the quicker that the board meeting minutes can be drafted up and distributed, the more likely the goals will be accomplished. Unfortunately, often, we see that meeting minutes from a prior meeting are not drafted until the day before the next meeting. What happens then when the board has authorized an action or a director was tasked with following up, but were given no follow-up until the day of the next meeting?
To the extent it is humanly possible, you should endeavor to draft and distribute minutes to all board members within 24-48 hours of the board meeting. With the conversation from the prior meeting fresh in everyone’s minds, this sets the expectations for each board member going into the next meeting.
We find it helpful to use the copy of the meeting agenda as a guide for taking notes and preparing the minutes. If you are the one preparing the meeting minutes, it may be helpful to highlight or bold any action items in order to immediately bring it to attention of the reader. Use these meeting minutes that you’ve just drafted to then prepare a first draft of the next board meeting agenda.
In conclusion, board meetings are rarely fun, but they are necessary and they can run smoothly. As you can see from our tips, the most important aspect of running an efficient and effective meeting is preparation. The work you put forward before the meeting has an enormous impact on how your meeting will go. While you won’t eliminate all hurdles keeping you from conducting business, you will at least be prepared to handle and diffuse them.
If you need any additional guidance on how to prepare for and conduct business at your board meetings, please contact the attorneys at DHN Attorneys. With our breadth of experience extending well beyond just community associations, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients maximize their time at board meetings.
