TOPIC 5: FOCUS AREAS
- This is the portion of the meeting for detailing your key near-term goals and objectives (i.e., for the next 30/60/90 days).
- Specific goals and milestones should be laid out for each function, as well as approximate timelines that will help your board understand the resources you’re planning to commit to these goals. This is not so that your board has an etched-in-stone commitment that they can then beat you up with if you fall short, but rather a proposed plan that gives the group a shared understanding of objectives and aspirations as a starting point for future discussion. Your board understands that, inevitably, you will adjust priorities. Being explicit about those choices is very important, and helps your board fully understand the dynamic environment you’re operating in, and the strategic decision-making process you and your team are going through.
TOPIC 6: STRATEGIC DISCUSSION
- Use your board to discuss the strategic decisions that are bigger than the typical day-to-day operations of the company. This can be considered the “meaty topic” of a board meeting.
- Topics to be discussed in this section vary, but can include:
- New product direction
- New marketing strategy/customer targets
- Expanding into new geographies
- Sales targets and quotas
- Changes to company operations (offices, reporting structures, etc.)
- Pricing strategy
- Fundraising strategy
- Expect the strategic discussion to take up half (or more!) of your board meeting, and make sure you defend this time – it’s the piece of the meeting that you will benefit from most.
- Use this time to gather advice from your board; don’t be afraid to ask them for help or to provide direction. Often, it will be helpful to ask board members to review material in advance. We’ve found that sometimes it even makes sense to take five minutes for people to review (or read for the first time) these materials to ensure that everyone is starting from the same page.
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