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The board of directors oversees a company by making decisions or setting policies. In most organizations the board is required to vote on decisions. Your board must have clear meeting rules and guidelines to ensure a successful decision-making process.

The majority of boards adhere to Robert’s Rules of Order. This is an English Parliamentary rulebook that was written by American General Henry M. Robert to ensure that meetings are not chaotic. While the application of Robert’s Rules of Order may not be required for every board, the use of formal guidelines can to create a framework that will ensure the fairness of debates in a digital or hybrid meeting where directors might be lost in a carousel of faces on a computer screen.

A key part of this is ensuring that the agenda is concise and clear and that includes well-written and written board papers that are created and distributed prior to the meeting to ensure that directors are prepared to discuss them. It is essential to limit time spent on routine issues and reports, as they can drag on a meeting.

Other rules for meetings include limiting how many instances a speaker can discuss motions (two minutes), and ensuring all speakers are relevant to the discussion to be discussed. If a particular motion is causing a heated debate or causing tension, a motion to close debate can be put forward with the support of two-thirds. To avoid being a waste of time, it is vital that everyone respects each other and does not undermine other members’ motives or use derogatory words.