2015 Board Agenda Topics

At our February meeting, the Board created a list of meeting topics we need to focus on this year. They are interconnected so we’re finding that in several instances coming to some conclusion about one topic depends on discussing another. Thankfully, Gayle has been brilliant at helping us stay focused, following the Creating the Future Catalytic Thinking Framework.

Here are the topics:

• What should the role of the chair and other roles and functions within the board be for the board to accomplish its work? What would the board’s role be in ensuring we accomplish the mission of Creating the Future? What would each board member’s role be?
• What governance mechanisms need to be in place to connect the thinking to the doing? Questions to address here include: What did we agree on? Is it completed or are there next steps, and if so, what are those next steps? If completed, where is that document now? What are we doing to share it? Who will we engage?
• What systems/policies/infrastructure do we need to be in place? (real stuff like a web page etc., not ethereal – logistical infrastructure pieces)
• Board composition, recruitment, and orientation
• The board’s engagement plan – plan of action for the board to network/weave towards our strategic priorities:
  • To help finding partners
  • To help engage people to attend board meetings
  • In general, to engage people in all aspects of our work
• Annual general meeting—What do we want it to make possible, what will it take?
• Agendas and minutes – What does the board want/need from its agendas and minutes?

We chose to focus on Board Composition and Recruitment for our March meeting (see minutes here), considering the key question: What does the composition of this board make possible, and for whom? We continued that conversation through the April meeting, ending with homework for each board member to consider the desired traits of potential board members. We hope to wrap up that discussion and focus on board roles and functions at the May meeting.