I recently delivered a board observation and review of board papers for a client and got into a really useful discussion about items on the agenda and decided that my next blog would cover some of the areas of that discussion. Thanks for the inspiration!
“Unsurprisingly, it is also an issue that reaches across to governance problems in other sectors, for example in the hospital and banking reviews aforementioned, Keogh found that some of the issues highlighted in the reviews were not on the Board’s agendas at all because they were not probing in the right areas or gathering independent assurance.” With the Benefit of Hindsight – Learning from Problem Cases Volume 4 (June 2015)
Have you ever been in a meeting and an item arose that in your mind should have only needed to be mentioned but a fifteen minute discussion ensued? Or, has an occasion passed where you knew a matter warranted a robust discussion but was mentioned only as a fleeting comment? The root of both of these examples can often be found in how the agenda has been structured.
The agenda is usually a one-sided piece of A4 paper that tells us what items will be discussed in a meeting. A well-structured agenda is the key to maximising the discussion of important papers to ensure the meeting is effective.
Key Standing Agenda Items
- Apologies
- Declarations of interests
- Minutes (from the previous meeting)
- Matters arising
Recommended Classifications
- For Noting: Items that don't require decision, action, or discussion.
- For Approval: Recommendations seeking formal board agreement.
- For Decision: Items evolved from options requiring a board choice.
- For Information: Contextual items that provide background.