SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How valuable are your organization’s board meetings?
- Highly — we get a great deal of value from our board: 21.89%
- Somewhat — board meetings deliver some value but not a lot: 39.3%
- Not very — the meetings are more of a formality: 24.38%
- Not at all — the meetings simply consume time and energy: 14.43%
Stop telling and start asking. The board is tired of hearing you talk and likely frustrated you’re not asking them for more guidance. Spare them the business unit updates. They can read those on the plane on their way to the meeting. Instead, use your limited and valuable time with them to get their perspectives on issues they can help you work through. With a few simple changes to how you handle board meetings, you can solve a lot more problems and write a lot fewer presentations.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of “Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results” and “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”