Chairing Boards and Board Committees

Course Overview

The Board depends upon its chair and each board committee places similar reliance upon their respective chairs. Ongoing successful chairmanship requires an approach and skills which go far beyond the art of successfully chairing a meeting. The best chairs are active between meetings and strong in their relationships with board and committee members. Then, of course, the chairs of boards and other organisations usually have a wider role to play as key representatives of the entity externally.

Audience

The course is for chairs and secretaries of boards and board committees. It is designed to provide the opportunity to explore ways of improving the quality of chairmanship -both of boards/board committees and also of their meetings. We highlight good and best practice and suggest practical approaches which will result in better productivity and more enjoyment.

The course presumes the chairmanship of a board or of a board committees and will be particularly useful for those who carry these particular responsibilities, and for those who assist others in these forms of chairmanship.

Course Outline

THE CHAIRPERSON'S ROLE IN GENERAL TERMS

• How should chairs be chosen?
• First amongst equals
• Managing the committee's business
• Leadership
• Time commitment
• Sources and limits of a chairperson's authority
• Qualities of competence and preparedness which chairpersons need
• Monitoring effectiveness

THE COMPANY CHAIRMAN'S ROLE

• The duties of the chairman under the Combined Code
• 'The chairman runs the board'

CONDUCT OF MEETINGS

• Starting a meeting, during a meeting, concluding a meeting
• Approaches to effectively completing the committee's business
• Balancing formality with informality
• Optimising member participation
• The impact of the domineering chairperson - the supine chairperson

THE CHAIRPERSONS'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMITTEE MEMBER EFFECTIVENESS

• Appropriately influencing committee membership
• Encouraging committee member contribution and effectiveness
• Motivating committee members between meetings

THE CHAIRPERSON'S OVERALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMITTEE ADMINISTRATION

• Overseeing the scheduling of meetings
• Calling and timing of meetings
• The essentials of effective agendas, agenda papers and minutes
• The vital importance of follow-up between meetings
• Ensuring implementation of committee resolutions
• Board committee reporting upwards to the board

SERVING A COMMITTEE AND ITS CHAIR

• The secretarial role
• Who should be the secretary?
• Choosing the secretary
• Who appoints and replaces the secretary?
• Assisting the chairperson

Chairing Boards and Board Committees / CM030597