Consent Agendas: Freeing Boards to Be More Strategic

Best Practices : Article

Getting Strategically Focused

It’s the common pining of many Boards of Directors: They want to be strategically focused, but struggle to get out of the weeds of operational or tactical matters. An effective way to achieve the goal of up-leveling a board’s focus is to streamline and eliminate those activities that don’t move the needle. One known time consuming task is efficiency of board meetings. Based on experience, using consent agendas can be an effective tool to help accomplish this.

What is a Consent Agenda?

A consent agenda is a practice that bundles standing reports and routine decision items into a single board meeting agenda item. Therefore, a single motion can be made to approve all items within that “consent package.” In short, the use of consent agendas keeps these important but routine matters necessarily in front of the board, but does not absorb precious board meeting time.

What if someone on the board objects to an item in the consent agenda package, or feels that item warrants more discussion? It’s simple: Boards that use consent agendas should adopt a standing policy that any board member can have the ability to request that any item be removed from a consent agenda and brought into the regular meeting agenda under new business. That safety valve provides an assurance to all board members that the consent agenda is being used as a means to streamline board proceedings, not to give the board leaders or staff a means of keeping controversial items off the radar screen.

Implementing a Consent Agenda

Interested in adopting the consent agenda approach for your board? If so, consider these basic rules of the road:

  • Establish a consent agenda policy: This doesn’t need to be more than a few paragraphs, but it should put in writing what types of materials will be allowed on consent agendas, the voting threshold to approve them (if not defined in other governance materials), and the steps needed for a board member to request movement of consent items into the regular agenda.
  • Distribute consent agenda materials in advance of the meeting: The goal of using consent agendas is to streamline board meetings, not to give board members less exposure to information about what’s happening in the organization. Thus, consent agendas are really a means to give board routine updates and action requests in written form versus in the format of in-meeting updates. To support that practice, though, it’s necessary to give board members plenty of time (at least a week is highly advised) to review all of the materials that they’ll be asked to approve within the consent agenda or request a change.
  • When in doubt, put it on the regular agenda: Again, consent agendas are intended to be a means for boards to address routine association matters more efficiently. If, in developing the agendas for a board meeting, the staff or leadership is in doubt about whether a particular item is the right fit for a consent agenda, leave it out. Any matter that might readily initiate a discussion among the board should be left for the regular agenda. On a related note, boards that adopt consent agendas should always build time into their meetings to address any items that were requested to be removed from the consent agendas.

Providing Strategic Consulting

Strategic thinking is in the DNA of Virtual Inc., and strategic consulting is part of our core business. We work with Technology Consortia, Standards Organizations, Associations, and Professional Societies to develop strategies that empower organization to trailblaze new paths in achieving more than they dreamed possible.

These are some of the ways we support our clients and enable their boards and leadership to focus on results:

  • Partnering with Boards of Directors to formulate long-term and short-term strategies
  • Strategic planning for sustainable growth
  • Conducting management consulting on best practices for governance, operations, and legal compliant
  • Providing the focus and oversight needed for the organization to achieve its mission
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