Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) must navigate the complex relationships with their Board of Directors with acumen and dexterity. At Hoola Hoop, we provide executive coaching from former CEOs, C-suite executives and experienced Board members to help you successfully develop and manage your board. Let’s start by dispelling some common myths about board management.

Common Myths and Pitfalls in Managing Your Board

Myth: The board is a necessary distraction.

Reality: It is tempting for CEOs to view board accountability as an unavoidable distraction and try to manage around it. Rather than a liability, great CEOs embrace the board as a key asset and team, marshaling its talents and resources to help them maximize the company’s success.

Myth: CEOs need to keep the board happy.

Reality: CEOs may misconstrue the board as a constituency that needs to be sold to, carefully sharing good news and putting a spin on bad ones. In reality, one of the board’s main roles is to manage risk, which requires visibility into the good, the bad, and the ugly. Transparency develops the trust needed for the CEO and board team to deal with challenging situations.

Myth: Board meetings are meant for updates.

Reality: The CEO should make sure the board is provided with ongoing updates throughout the year, letting board meetings focus on a thoughtful agenda of topics that are timely and require the board’s input, debate, or approval. The CEO should develop an agenda well in advance and share it with their board members for feedback, making sure the right topics are prepared and addressed. Great board meetings are engaging and interesting, and thoughtfully use the precious time of convening board members, resulting in strong alignment.

Myth: The board isn’t part of my team.

Reality: Like any group of people in your business, board members should be connected to, engaged, and led by you. Investing in and building relationships with your board members will enable you to better integrate them into your business, fostering consensus and alignment. The board is an important team, an extension of the CEO and, when properly led and managed, will provide significant leverage to the CEO.

Myth: The board is in charge of strategy.

Reality: The board is in charge of hiring the right CEO who can set the right strategy and for holding them accountable to successfully executing it. However, it is the CEO’s foremost responsibility to set the strategy for the business, as well as directing the strategic planning process.

Myth: Board members are mostly active in board meetings.

Reality: Sadly, this is often the case. However, as companies scale, much more of the board’s work needs to be conducted between meetings. These activities include formal workflows through specialized committees (comp, audit, nominating, and governance committees), as well as the board’s responsiveness to the executive team in an increasingly complex business environment. Directors may also provide informal mentorship to C-suite executives, leveraging their specific skills and expertise to foster stronger connections between the board and executive teams.

Our Approach to Coaching CEOs to Better Manage their Boards

Understanding Your Board

Through a combination of informal direct interviews and formal 360 review processes, we provide you with a deep understanding of your board’s experience, style, strengths, and areas for growth. Gaining insight into the board’s perspective on the business and the CEO offers invaluable data points that can guide you in effectively managing and engaging with your board. Additionally, understanding your directors’ agendas, time horizons, past achievements, current challenges, and alignment with your mission offers crucial context that empowers you to lead your board team with confidence and clarity.

Improving Your Board Management

We help you evaluate your current approach to board engagement and offer guidance on optimizing your operating cadence. This includes refining the frequency and format of your board communications, as well as providing strategies to prepare for and run more effective board meetings. Additionally, we help you establish robust governance practices, including the organization of your board’s workstreams and committees. Upon request, we will observe your board meetings and provide real-time and continuous feedback on your leadership and the board’s dynamics.

Developing Your Board

Once your current board is operating effectively, we encourage you to look ahead and ensure your board team can scale to meet future needs. We offer coaching on how to elevate your board, including when and how to uplevel, hire, or, if necessary, replace directors to build your ideal board team.

What to Expect from Hoola Hoop Coaching

Candid, Experienced Feedback

Get honest, constructive feedback from seasoned CEOs and leaders who have walked in your shoes. We provide direct and honest advice, grounded in a genuine understanding of the challenges you face.

Best Practice Insights

With extensive board experience advising CEOs and boards in companies undergoing rapid change, we know what works and what doesn’t, and we can anticipate what’s around the next corner. We’ll coach you on how to de-risk your journey and provide the best possible leadership to your board team.

CEO Coaching with Deep Commercial Acumen

We understand the strategic context in which you operate, the financial constraints you face, and your goals in effectively deploying investments and building your team. Our executive coaching is actionable and tailored to the specific context in which you operate.

The CEO job is often lonely, and the road ahead uncertain. We’re here to illuminate your journey, providing guidance and support to help you lead with confidence and clarity.

Running an effective board meeting is one of the CEO’s key responsibilities. When well-conducted, these meetings are informative, insightful, and impactful, benefiting the organization by harnessing the diverse experiences and perspectives of the board team.

In reality, many CEOs find board meetings burdensome to prepare for—a duty to fulfill, an obstacle to overcome. This often results in tedious meetings that resemble a student reciting their homework while waiting for the bell to ring. It becomes a missed opportunity, an area of growth for many CEOs.

So, how should great board meetings be run?

First, all great things start with a great plan.

Preparation

Scheduling

Schedule all board meetings for the year in advance, giving board members ample time to plan ahead and attend in person. Minimize changes to the board calendar (board calls can be used for urgent, ad-hoc, or committee-based workstreams).

Setting the right agenda

The CEO must determine their primary objectives for the board meeting. The agenda should reflect these priorities.

Avoid turning the meeting into a long laundry list of updates. The CEO’s job is to keep the board continuously informed about the company’s performance and key events, and pre-read materials will catch everyone up on the latest developments. Consider how best to use the board’s time. The right topics should include financial and performance reviews, strategic planning and corporate development, key risks and opportunities, timely commercial matters, and corporate governance.

Each agenda item should have a clear purpose – whether to inform, solicit feedback, or make a decision.

Circulate a draft agenda to board members well in advance, allowing them to provide feedback on topics they wish to discuss, ensuring alignment before finalizing the plan. Do this early enough to give sufficient time to prepare for the meeting.

It is best practice to plan for two executive sessions at the meeting’s conclusion. The first, for the board and CEO, provides an opportunity for open discussion on sensitive matters. The second, for board members only (without the CEO), allows the board to evaluate the company and the CEO’s performance. This session enables the board to fulfill its fiduciary duty and provide the CEO with constructive feedback.

The agenda should include time allocations for each topic, along with scheduled breaks.

Materials

A good meeting requires thorough preparation, including the review of pre-read materials by all board members. It’s good practice to send these materials as early as possible – at least a week in advance is recommended; more if the materials are lengthy and comprehensive.

Beyond the board deck, the pre-read packet may include additional materials that will not be covered during the meeting, such as more detailed financial reports and performance analyses.

The CEO should offer to address any questions board members have while reviewing the materials. As the company grows, the CFO may help handle pre-meeting inquiries. This eliminates the need to use precious in-person meeting time for clarifying questions, allowing for a better focus and cadence in the meeting.

The Meeting

Who should be in the room?

Board meetings typically include all board members, board observers, and the CEO. The CFO should attend throughout, and if the company has a General Counsel, they may also be present. Outside counsel may also join for legal advice. Specific members of the executive team may be invited to present or participate in discussions and should leave as their agenda items conclude.

Running the board meeting

The CEO is the master of ceremonies, setting the tone and pace of the meeting, ensuring the agenda is followed, and keeping within the time allotted.

The best board meetings foster participation. A key responsibility of the CEO is creating a culture of debate and engagement. Instead of viewing the meeting as a rubber stamp or a hurdle, CEOs who run effective board meetings actively seek and embrace feedback, benefiting from the insights of well-prepared and critically thinking board members.

Different agenda topics should be presented by the individual best suited to lead the discussion. This might be an executive (e.g., the CPO presenting key product launches or the CFO discussing the annual budget) or a board director (e.g., the compensation committee chair presenting the annual compensation plan the committee recommended adopting).

After the Meeting

CEO follow up

As with all great meetings, effective board meetings require timely follow-up. The CEO should send the board a brief summary of all agreed decisions and action items, including responsibilities and timelines, to the board. And follow up on those commitments.

Board minutes

Formal board minutes should be distributed after the meeting. In smaller companies, these may be prepared by outside counsel or the General Counsel, while in larger companies, a corporate secretary usually handles this responsibility.

Conclusion

Effective board meetings are not just routine check-ins; they are vital opportunities to align the board and the CEO around the company’s vision and strategic priorities. By focusing on thoughtful preparation, engaging discussions, and timely follow-up, CEOs can transform their board meetings into valuable, productive sessions that drive company growth and success. When done well, these meetings can become one of the CEO’s most powerful tools for leveraging the collective expertise of the board.

If you’re looking to optimize your board’s performance or explore our board member and observer services at Hoola Hoop, please reach out:

Eyal Goldwerger
Empowering CEOs to Master the Boardroom
Hoola Hoop
Hoop-on!