The greatest frustration for any Board Chair or Head of School is facing a room of governors who started thinking about the Board and the School about 15 minutes before the Board meeting and who will only continue to think about them for the 15 minutes it takes to drive home afterwards.
There is nothing worse than arriving at a Board meeting and watching a number of the directors tearing open the package of previously delivered support materials for the meeting and begin to leaf through them. Digital agendas and reports have taken some of the frustrating sting out of the process but the telltale scrolling on iPads indicates much the same thing. The Duty of Diligence is a prime requisite of any Board member. Practically speaking, this means that each director must exercise a level of care with respect to the performance of their responsibility including: reviewing the agenda and support materials prior to any meeting; attending all scheduled Board and committee meetings; arriving prepared to discuss the issues on the table in a reasonable and informed fashion; and ready to take a clear position - and vote - on any matters put before the Board (with the exception of those areas of possible conflict of interest).
One strategy that a Board Chair can use to try to kick start the meeting and force members of the Board to arrive prepared is to use a Consent Agenda.
There is nothing worse than arriving at a Board meeting and watching a number of the directors tearing open the package of previously delivered support materials for the meeting and begin to leaf through them. Digital agendas and reports have taken some of the frustrating sting out of the process but the telltale scrolling on iPads indicates much the same thing. The Duty of Diligence is a prime requisite of any Board member. Practically speaking, this means that each director must exercise a level of care with respect to the performance of their responsibility including: reviewing the agenda and support materials prior to any meeting; attending all scheduled Board and committee meetings; arriving prepared to discuss the issues on the table in a reasonable and informed fashion; and ready to take a clear position - and vote - on any matters put before the Board (with the exception of those areas of possible conflict of interest).
One strategy that a Board Chair can use to try to kick start the meeting and force members of the Board to arrive prepared is to use a Consent Agenda.
A Consent Agenda is a package of materials (usually strictly for information) that is distributed before hand and received by a quick vote at the beginning of the meeting. The Consent Agenda usually consists of such items as: the Minutes of the Previous Meeting; informational Committee reports (where no motions or votes are required); the Head's Report; general school or programme information; etc. The idea behind a Consent Agenda is that rather than waste valuable Board time presenting reports, minutes, etc. that can be easily read in advance, you accelerate this process and move on to the more deliberative aspects of the agenda.
In its excellent monograph "The Consent Agenda: A Tool for Improving Governance", Board Source states:
A consent agenda can turn a board meeting into a meeting of the minds around the things that matter most...With a consent agenda, what might have taken an hour for the board to review, takes only five minutes. Because it promotes good time management, a consent agenda leaves room for the board to focus on issues of real importance to the organization and its future, such as...image and brand; changing demographics; programme opportunities; etc.
At my previous school in Bermuda, the Chair introduced a Consent Agenda approach which the Board embraced whole-heartedly. It not only streamlined the meetings, leaving more time for fulsome discussions of the meatier issues of the day, but it also "encouraged" Board members to carefully review materials in advance of the meeting to ensure that they understood and agreed with what they were approving. The energy and engagement of the Board was raised considerably as a result.
Heads should take note. Consent Agendas are not only for Board meetings they can also make for a much more effective staff meeting if administrative items are included on a consent agenda so that the bulk of the time can be spent discussing educational issues rather than administrivia!
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