Meghan Day

Principal Solution Designer

Consent agenda: What it is & how it saves boards time

Boards and organizational leaders have more to do than hours in a day. As a result, saving time can be a pivotal way to boost their effectiveness. Yet, only 9% of boards use consent agendas — a tool that can quickly shorten meetings.

Imagine the role of the corporate secretary, board chair or CEO in preparing for a board or executive meeting. Each leader has to prioritize agenda items, which can be especially challenging as many items vie for attention.

Many of the items are routine in nature, and there’s a way to address them during a council meeting that helps get through them faster. A consent agenda is a governance tool that streamlines some of the items on the agenda. To be even more efficient, meeting and agenda management software goes the extra mile in effective, efficient governance.

Here, we will explain what makes an effective consent agenda, including:

• What a consent agenda is
• How consent agendas work
• What should be on a consent agenda
• How to implement a consent agenda
• Consent agenda best practices

What is a consent agenda?

Also known as a consent calendar, a consent agenda is a time-saving tool that ensures that council meetings are well-organized and efficient. A consent agenda groups routine meeting agenda items into one agenda item. It doesn’t require motions, allowing the board to pass or approve all the items in the consent agenda with one motion.

Consider, for a moment, the amount of time that you spend at every meeting just reviewing and approving routine, recurring agenda times. Think about how many items on your agenda need to be approved or voted on that everyone already agrees on and don’t require any discussion.

Boards that use a consent agenda template could save up to 30 minutes by approving several items simultaneously. This process frees up meeting time for discussions about matters that require the most time, attention and deliberation, such as how the group can move forward with planning that will impact the lives of their customers and employees.

How do consent agendas work?

Consent agendas work by grouping routine items for board approval rather than voting on each item individually. This works by:

1. Identifying routine items: Before the meeting, the corporate secretary and the board chair will identify items that don't require discussion, such as the approval of previous meeting minutes. They will send this list to board members in advance.
2. Getting board approval: Board members can then weigh in on the consent agenda, including requesting to move items from the consent agenda to the regular agenda.
3. Voting on the consent agenda: After handling removal requests, the board will approve everything on the consent agenda with a single vote.

What should be on a consent agenda?

Boards put specific items into their consent agendas. Such items may include topics that are either routine or recurring, procedural decisions, non-controversial issues where there is no disagreement, and items that the board previously discussed and has already come to a consensus on but still needs to vote on them.

Examples of consent agenda items may include the previous meetings’ minutes, financial reports, informational reports, the executive’s report, program reports, department reports, committee appointments, and staff appointments that require board confirmation.

How to implement a consent agenda

Before anything can happen, the board has to adopt a rule of order that allows for a consent agenda. It’s also important for all voting members to understand the rules associated with a consent agenda. With that in place, boards can implement a consent agenda as follows:

1. Distribute materials to board members in advance: One of the rules for the consent agenda is that all documentation that’s associated with the items contained in the consent agenda template must be distributed to meeting participants before the meeting so that they have an opportunity to cast informed votes on the group of items. Board members are required to review the information thoroughly to make sure they’re doing their due diligence.
2. Review the consent agenda: Members of the meeting must be given an opportunity to ask questions about the items in the consent agenda and be given time to get an answer before the vote takes place. All questions and answers to questions on the consent agenda should be shared with voting members. The board chair usually allows council members to ask simple questions, ask for clarification, and allow short conversations about consent items after someone makes a motion and before the council approves it. It’s not necessary to remove an item from the consent agenda solely because someone has a simple question that can be answered quickly.
3. Revise the agenda: At the start of the meeting, the board chair should give participants an opportunity to discuss any of the items listed in the consent agenda. If the group decides that they want to discuss an item on the consent agenda, they have to remove that one item from the consent agenda and address it at another point in the meeting. If there are no questions about that item, they can place it back on the consent agenda for future meetings.
4. Remove requested agenda items: If any voting members want to vote against an item on the consent agenda, the board chair must remove the item from the consent agenda. Discussion must take place on that item because members aren’t allowed to use a consent agenda to force passage of items on the agenda.
5. Approve all items on the consent agenda: At this point, the board chair must read the remaining consent items out loud and may move to adopt the consent agenda as a whole. The council doesn’t have to vote on the consent agenda — they can just approve it as long as there aren’t any objections.

The corporate secretary must include the full text of all resolutions and reports that were included in the consent agenda even though they weren’t individually reviewed at the meeting.

Consent agenda best practices

To reap the full benefits of a consent agenda, boards must carefully plan and communicate about the items it contains. Leveraging these best practices will keep the process smooth and efficient:

• Clearly define appropriate items: Boards shouldn’t use consent agendas to force approvals. Instead, include only routine, non-controversial items. Anything that needs discussion or clarification should appear on the regular agenda, not the consent agenda.
• Distribute materials in advance: Include the consent agenda in the packet you send ahead of the meeting. Giving board members time to review allows them to request to move items to the regular agenda as needed.
• Encourage preparation: Remind board members to review all items on the consent agenda, though they may be routine. Spending time on the consent agenda items helps avoid uninformed or unintentional approvals.
• Promote transparency: Announce the consent agenda at the start of the meeting and list included items. Record in the minutes all items approved under the consent agenda to create a clear record of the process.
• Avoid overloading the consent agenda: Be selective about what you include on the consent agenda. Overloading it with complex or contentious items could confuse the board or lead to unintended approvals.
• Be flexible: If board members consistently remove specific items from the consent agenda, reconsider whether those items belong there at all. Adapting the process to suit the board’s needs and dynamics can streamline it significantly, ensuring the board benefits from time savings.

Using governance tools to improve productivity

A consent agenda is just one tool that streamlines meeting agendas. Agenda and board management software are other tools that make the board’s work easy. Board management software uses automated templates designed with best practices in mind so corporate secretaries can simply fill in the blanks to update agendas, consent agendas, meeting minutes and other data.

Diligent Boards, part of the Diligent One Platform, helps keep board meetings on track. The agenda-building tools empower boards to spend less time compiling, printing and organizing consent agendas and other materials and more time on strategic activities that support board performance.

Learn more about Diligent Boards and how it can help you create agendas instantly, record and distribute minutes seamlessly and support a time-saving consent agenda process.