You can find an introduction to Governance Cadence Meetings in Chapter 21 of Where the Action Is. These resources will help you plan, run, and troubleshoot the specific Governance Cadence Meetings your team needs.
Definition
A Governance Cadence Meeting is used to provide legal and strategic oversight for an organization or contractual relationship.
Questions Answered
- How did we perform?
- What’s changed?
- What needs our intervention?
Examples
- Board Meetings
- Quarterly Strategic Reviews
- QBRs (Quarterly Business Reviews between a vendor and client)
Purpose
- Strategic definition and oversight.
- Regulatory compliance and monitoring.
- Maintenance of relationships and organizational identity.
Work Outcomes
- Finalized decisions.
- Confirmation of strategic priorities.
- Legal oversight.
- Operational advice.
- Access to external resources.
Human Outcomes
- Clarity of direction.
- Mutual accountability and support.
- Improved situational awareness and contextual understanding.
Meeting Agenda Templates and Guides
How to Run a Board Meeting Using Robert's RulesElise Keith - Love, hate, hubris, and anxiety - Robert's Rules inspires strong feelings and opinions in those who have come to know them. Regardless of how anyone might feel about Robert's Rules, we still see this pillar of parliamentary procedure listed as the fall-back in board and organizational bylaws. If in doubt about how... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Formal Board MeetingElise Keith - Boards have many responsibilities and must abide by certain rules and formalities, but there is no one set way to run a board meeting. For every board meeting, the directors must still determine what topics to prioritize, how to manage the available time, and how to ensure the board members arrive informed and stay... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Simple Board MeetingElise Keith - Boards have many responsibilities and must abide by certain rules and formalities, but there is no one set way to run a board meeting. For every board meeting, the directors must still determine what topics to prioritize, how to manage the available time, and how to ensure the board members arrive informed and stay... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Startup Board MeetingElise Keith - Boards have many responsibilities and must abide by certain rules and formalities, but there is no one set way to run a board meeting. For every board meeting, the directors must still determine what topics to prioritize, how to manage the available time, and how to ensure the board members arrive informed and stay... [ more ] |
Lucid Blog Posts
Elise Keith (2019). At Lucid Meetings, our mission is to make it easy for teams to run successful meetings every day. Teaching teams the skills they need to run successful meetings seems like an obvious way for us to fulfill this mission, which is why we've now opened our first courses to students. We opened Meeting School now because, after over a decade of research and work with high-performing organizations, we know what works.
Elise Keith (2016). A team’s regularly scheduled meetings should maintain work momentum and strengthen the relationships between team members. The frequency of these regular meetings sets the team’s work cadence.
Elise Keith (2016). While board meetings are special, they’re still meetings. When you strip away the formal language about motions and quorum and whatnot, what you have is a group of people working together to unblock issues, get to the root of big questions, and make decisions that move the organization forward. In essence, you have the kind of thing going on that you get in most meetings, and all the same opportunities for dysfunction.
Recommended Reading & Resources
Articles
- "10 Proactive Questions Every Board Member Should Be Asking," Andrew White, Tazim Essani, and Eric Wilkinson (2021)
- "Making great decisions," Chip Heath, Olivier Sibony (2013).
- Reid Hoffman's Rituals of Great Board Meetings: The 8 Strategic Tools Used by Top Companies on Coda
- "The Impact of Stress", Steve Bressert, Ph.D. (2016).
Blog Posts
- "The Secret to Making Board Meetings Suck Less," Jeff Bonforte.
Books
- Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 11th Edition, by Henry M. Robert III, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch, et al.
- The Board Book: An Insider's Guide for Directors and Trustees. William G. Bowen (2012).