10 reasons why meeting minutes are important
Since 2010, there has been a 33% increase in the number of board directors with experience in technical leadership roles. As technology slowly modernizes the board room, one question persists: Why are meeting minutes important? And why should they be part of your digital transformation?
Meetings are any board’s best opportunity to catalyze strategic action. Meeting minutes document those critical decisions, actions and conversations and are therefore indispensable to the corporate record. Here, we’ll discuss why and when meeting minutes matter, including:
- Why it’s important to have accurate meeting minutes
- The value of minutes before, during and after board meetings
- How to leverage meeting minutes to drive board effectiveness
The importance of accurate meeting minutes
Meeting minutes are crucial accountability and compliance tools. But they must be accurate to meet that need.
Boards turn to meeting minutes as an official record of the discussions, decisions and actions agreed upon during a meeting. Likewise, minutes are essential in defending the board during legal action or regulatory scrutiny. In either case, if the minutes don’t accurately convey critical issues, the depth and breadth of conversations about them, what the board decided, and why, they won’t be a reliable resource that boards can turn to.
This means meeting minutes do more than document what happened in a meeting. Accurate meeting minutes are a strategic tool for storing historical records and documenting the path forward. For this reason, many organizations turn to board portals (and not the free version), lest critical information gets buried in a spreadsheet, email or paper board book.
10 reasons why minutes are mission-critical
Effective meeting minutes catalyze organizational management. They’re an essential tool for streamlining action before, during and after meetings, keeping boards and other stakeholders on track. The transition to digital governance platforms has only increased the stature of meeting minutes; directors can access minutes any time, anywhere, to stay engaged with the board’s progress.
Despite meeting minutes’ newfound accessibility, they have a particularly important part to play before, during and after any board meeting.
Before the meeting
- Meeting preparation: Secretaries and board chairs lean heavily on previous meeting minutes to prepare for upcoming meetings. They provide context and continuity, helping meeting organizers arrange the next agenda and inviting attendees to review past decisions and come to the meeting ready to build on them.
- Communication: Boards can also organize their thoughts ahead of meetings through the minutes. Meeting minutes are the only document boards need to anticipate the agenda, topics for discussion and tasks they’re responsible for. This keeps all directors informed and prepared to contribute strategically.
In the meeting
- Record keeping: Minutes are important in a meeting because they are the official record for discussions, decisions and action items. Taking thorough minutes ensures directors have a point of reference for what occurred during the meeting at any point in the future. This can help keep director roles and responsibilities in mind.
- Compliance: Meeting minutes are a regulatory requirement, and regulators may ask to audit them as part of the corporation’s official record. Accurate minutes can demonstrate that boards followed proper board meeting procedures.
After the meeting
- Accountability: During a meeting, board members may commit to completing specific tasks. Minutes hold them accountable by documenting each task and any associated action items.
- Corporate record: After a meeting, minutes become part of the corporate record. This is a powerful reason why meeting minutes are important: they provide a historical account of board decisions that is invaluable for future strategic planning.
- Follow-up: Minutes facilitate follow-up between board members. One director can review the tasks and deadlines and use that information to collaborate with other directors to ensure decisions are implemented as planned.
- Transparency: Meeting minutes give stakeholders a glimpse at the board's inner workings. This builds trust and assures stakeholders that the board is acting in their best interest.
- Efficiency: Well-documented minutes make future meetings more efficient. They save time during meetings reviewing prior decisions and actions and eliminate repetitive discussions or tasks.
- Dispute resolution: Board meetings promote collaboration, but they also invite dissent. If directors misunderstand or misremember what they discussed or decided in a prior meeting, the minutes can resolve conflicts and keep directors on the same page.
Turn meeting minutes into a tool for board effectiveness
At their best, meeting minutes catalyze board performance and good governance. They are a board’s window into the past and a point of reference for every decision they make and action they take following a given meeting. However, minutes can also introduce costly instances of noncompliance, fail to equip the board with the insights they need or get lost in other emails and action items.
How do you know your minutes are compelling enough to support your board? While a centralized governance platform can streamline the structure and storage of minutes, you have to write them down first. Learn the nine steps to taking effective meeting minutes — plus a template you can start using now.
