Recent meeting statistics from 2021 show that over 50% of team members still record meeting notes by hand. Consequently, most teams can’t come up with the only decisions and outcomes in the later stages. What does it mean for the company? Wasted time and money.
Instead of that, businesses could optimize each of their teams’ meetings, so all the essential activities to be recorded and lately revisited for making better decisions. This article tries to answer how to do so with a board meeting minutes template.
What are board meeting minutes?
Meeting minutes are written records that officially summarize everything that happens during a corporate meeting. They’re used for two main purposes:
- to keep track of crucial issues, motions, and activities of the meeting, so that these notes can be used for future reference
- to keep non-attending group members updated
During the last few years, meetings are taking a larger chunk out of employees’ workdays. Recent research shows that the time employees spend in meetings has risen. It also shows that employees at all levels have, on average, eight weekly meetings.
Taking meeting minutes by hand is tedious and time-consuming. That’s why using a board of directors meeting minutes template is a more reasonable and efficient solution.
The advantages of using a board meeting minutes template
- Clear structure. Though there’s no industry standard for templates, and each company customizes them according to their needs, each meeting minute template should include some basic information such as the name of the organization, time and place of the meeting, a list of attendees, etc.
- Saved time and money. Of course, you still have to spend some time recording the meeting’s main points. However, by filling in a template and keeping it handy, you eliminate the need of recalling details in the future. Especially considering that many such meetings can take place daily, this saves you time — and time is money.
- Legal protection. A board meeting minutes template is official evidence of all significant steps realized throughout the process. Who made the decision? When? Why? This document verifies all needed info. It will definitely come in handy in cases as an audit.
- A plan of action. Having everything “on paper” in the board meeting minutes template helps not only to see the whole picture of any situation but also the possible plan of actions needed.
- Constant access to info. Since a board of directors meeting minutes template is available to all team members, they will have access to all reports for review should they miss a meeting.
Board software tools as a way to optimize a board meeting minutes template
Having a template is a reasonable solution for making it easier to take meeting minutes. However, this is not the only thing employers could start using to develop processes in their companies. Though not a technological breakthrough by most standards, software to create a board meeting minutes template is a useful digital tool that assists corporate secretaries.
Board software tools are an excellent way to streamline the time-consuming process of recording meeting minutes. Their main benefits are reducing the time needed for taking minutes and providing better organization. Also, they allow companies to:
- store all the records in the cloud, so every team member always has access to them
- standardize the process of board meeting minutes template
- create meeting minutes based on the ready agendas
- share finalized version with the whole team in the shortest possible time
- connect minutes, agendas, and tasks of both past and upcoming meetings
Examples of formal a board meeting minutes template
Organization name
Date
Attendees: first and last names of everyone present at the meeting
Absentees: first and last names of team members absent from the meeting
Agenda approval: motion and name of the team member who created it
Minutes approval: motion and name of the team member who created it
Opening: a meeting’s starting time, location, and meeting leader; any opening remarks
Unfinished business
- Item 1: info about an item that is not finished and needs to be discussed
- Item 2: info about another item that needs to be discussed
New business
- Item 1: summary of all the discussions, motions, and votes; names, follow-ups, and deadlines if needed
- Item 2: summary in the same format described in Item 1
Upcoming steps
- Item 1: a task, its deadlines, and names of team members responsible for it
- Item 2: info about another task in the format described in Item 1
Closing: the time of adjournment; date and time of the next meeting
Examples of informal board meeting minutes template
Organization name
Date
Present: names of members present
New business
- Item 1: summary of all the discussions, motions, and votes; names, follow-ups, and deadlines, if needed
- Item 2: summary, with the same format as described in Item 1
Next steps
- Item 1: a task, its deadlines, and names of team members responsible for it
- Item 2: info about other tasks with the same format as described in Item 1
How can a meeting minutes template help with a board resolution?
Let’s first discuss the required sections of a minutes template. All team members should be aware that every meeting minutes template has to include a list of necessary points:
- date and time
- organization name
- a list of attendees
- agenda items
All of these are important for keeping the structure and logic of the process. However, the most crucial information is about voting results, decisions made, and steps needed to be taken. These features form the firm ground for any project and also help optimize and accelerate meetings management. They should:
- give a complete picture of all processes
- drive a concrete plan of actions
- help to find decisions that need some improvement
- assist in forecasting upcoming challenges and their solutions.