Some boards wear their long meetings like a badge of diligence. They shouldn't. A meeting that routinely runs four hours usually isn't thorough — it's poorly chaired. It means discussion isn't focused, decisions aren't reached cleanly, and the same points get re-litigated while the genuinely important items get rushed at the end when everyone's tired.
Good chairing is a real skill, and an underrated one. It's keeping discussion on the decision at hand, drawing out the quiet directors and reining in the dominant ones, knowing when enough has been said and a decision must be made, and protecting the agenda from drift. A well-chaired meeting respects everyone's time and produces better decisions — because people are still sharp when the hard items come up.
If your meetings exhaust people and decide little, the agenda and the chairing are the place to look — not the directors' commitment.
A focused two-hour meeting beats a meandering four-hour one every time. Length is not a measure of rigour.
How to chair and structure board meetings that decide well and respect time is part of What Every Board Director Needs to Know.
Explore the Board Director course
Free first step: the Board Meeting Preparation Checklist.
Annie
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