In any professional membership association, the Board plays a central role in steering the organisation towards its goals and achieving its mission. No matter the industry, key decisions, strategic planning, and the overall direction of the association are often determined within Board meetings. This is why the role of administration staff is so important – meeting planning is paramount for ensuring productivity, engagement, and ultimately the success of the association.
Set an Agenda
Step one of meeting planning is to craft an agenda, usually done a number of weeks prior to the upcoming meeting. Agendas act as a roadmap to not only outline the topics of discussion, but to allocate the time needed for each item. Doing this ensures that important matters are sufficiently addressed without the risk of the conversation veering off course.
Administrators have the task of managing and setting the agenda, so it’s essential for them to collaborate closely with the Board to determine the association’s priorities, create clear objectives, and structure the meeting accordingly.
Anticipate Needs
Behind each Board meeting is meticulous preparation. Important documents, reports and information must be gathered and collated in advance for Board members to review. It’s crucial to anticipate the needs of the Board, providing them with informative papers to aid them in their decision-making processes.
On top of this, don’t forget about ad-hoc tasks such as providing virtual meeting links, venue bookings and noting dietary requirements to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly on the day.
Active Participation
Meeting planning requires administration staff to encourage engagement and productivity. It’s the administrator’s job to maintain the agenda timing, tactfully manage discussions and encourage follow up meetings if required.
As an administrator you’re responsible for ensuring that the critical issues at hand receive appropriate attention, and less important matters are addressed efficiently. Remember that you do not have to sit on the sidelines – whilst it’s not your job to make key decisions, it is important to offer valuable information and insight during the meeting so that the Board are kept as informed as possible.
Actions and Responsibilities
It is the administrator’s role to record actions throughout the meeting, noting down where follow ups are required and who the responsibility lies with. The end of the meeting marks the beginning of the implementation of key decisions and actions.
Circulating comprehensive meeting minutes in an efficient manner acts a reference point to the Board members and provides a to-do list for any action points they may have been tasked with. It also allows any absent Board members to catch up on what was missed.
Following up on action items, tracking progress and providing support to the Board all lies with the administration team, and ultimately helps the association in achieving its mission.
Support
At Cygnul we are seen as trusted advisors to the Board for our clients, offering support to associations around the UK. If you want to explore how these services could help your organisation, please get in touch with us.