---
title: Top 10 Tips for Making Your Board Super Effective
description: Having a super effective board will drive your business beyond your expectations. These 10 simple tips will help you get the best out of your board and let you have a little more fun doing it.
---

[SME business guides | MD business tools | leadership advice ](https://blog.vistage.co.uk)

# [Top 10 Tips for Making Your Board Super Effective](https://blog.vistage.co.uk/top-ten-tips-for-making-your-board-super-effective)

 Written by [Fia Gosling](https://blog.vistage.co.uk/author/fia-gosling) | 30/10/13 11:14

 

Having a super effective board will drive your business beyond your expectations. These 10 simple tips will help you get the best out of your board and let you have a little more fun doing it.

**1. Always be Prepared**   
Put together a clear agenda. Ensure that each board member has the key information and a list of expectations at least ONE week before each meeting.  Make sure you set meeting dates well in advance.

**2. Make Board Meetings Fun!**   
If you make meetings fun, you will get better results. Shake things up- use a different company location (perhaps a customers' or suppliers' site). Bring your company people to present (30mins each), varying the topic: customers, markets, competition, fulfilment, support, the future, etc. Have a dinner or two- informal/formal, enjoy yourselves.

**3. Focus the Board on Strategy**  
Add a half-day session twice yearly and do some “blue sky thinking”. Think outside the box, stretch the box and redesign it!

**4. Involve Your Board Members**   
Utilise the expertise of your board members by bringing them into your business, bring them into company meetings. Use their skills to help with company decisions between board meetings.

**5. Keep Your Board Informed**   
Make sure you have regular monthly meetings; it's too hard to restart the engine only quarterly. If you insist on quarterly meetings, then at least send monthly information: financials, company newsletters, CEO's monthly letter and communicate by telephone or e-mail once a month with board members.

**6. Attract/Keep the Best People**  
Compensation is a big issue but more important than money is recognition, fun, personal growth, challenge and convenience. How are you addressing your board’s needs?

**7. Challenge** **Your Board **  
Give your board members special assignments, like coaching a key player. Don't overload them, but do engage them in your challenges!

**8. Balance the Board**   
Your board will be full of high-powered individuals and they want to associate with interesting, challenging peers. Bring the best to your meetings and you will get the best outcomes.

**9. Annual Business Plan**   
Once a year you should devote an entire meeting to review and improve the business plan.

**10. Seek Renewal!**  
Normal board committees are nominating, audit and compensation. Some new ones to consider: finance, strategy, compliance or information technology.

***- What are your secrets?***

**More from Vistage:**

** **

** **

[View full post](https://blog.vistage.co.uk/top-ten-tips-for-making-your-board-super-effective)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Fia Gosling"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2014-10-08T09:54:33.002Z",
  "datePublished" : "2013-10-30T11:14:00Z",
  "headline" : "Top 10 Tips for Making Your Board Super Effective",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 257,
    "url" : "http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/258171/file-362686387-jpg/blog/images/Topics/Board_Meetings/BOARD_MEETING.jpg",
    "width" : 350
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.vistage.co.uk/top-ten-tips-for-making-your-board-super-effective",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60.0,
      "url" : "https://pages.vistage.co.uk/hubfs/Web%20Logo.png",
      "width" : 304.80002
    },
    "name" : "Vistage UK Blog"
  }
}
```