Lost in Translation: Lessons from the “virtual” world of board meetings
August 2020 marked the date that The Directors College switched its portfolio of governance education modules from in-person residential sessions to fully virtual offerings. The switch included transforming its 2.5-day “Hollister” classroom sim into a 3-day series of Zoom committee and board meetings. I remember one of my admin members saying in those early how much they missed doing the sim in the “real world” to which I replied that this was NOW part of the real world of board governance. However, what struck me at the time was how much was being improvised as the students and facilitators had no agreed-upon best practice approaches to running a fully virtual board meeting — should the role players allow chats in their meetings, how should they deal with practical issues like voting, onboarding new directors, having “on-camera” discussions without management and, if the Chairs role is not tough enough already, how did they ensure engagement and dialogue with directors still getting used to the mute on/off button.
It was at that point I decided to reach out to our DC alum and the alumni of the le collège des administrateurs de sociétés (our Quebec partner), to get some real-time feedback on how boards were grappling with the transition from in-person to fully virtual meetings— we circulated a survey in March/April of this year and collected 328 usable responses representing observations from over 600 Canadian boards.
What came back was not overly shocking…in the pre-pandemic world close to 45% of boards surveyed already allowed some or all of their members to participate virtually in meetings; i.e. think mostly conference calls. During the height of the pandemic, over 95% of Canadian boards transitioned to fully virtual board meetings, a survey data point that again is not overly surprising. What is surprising; when asked to speculate about their post-Covid meeting preferences, respondents reverted to their pre-Covid responses with only a modest 10% uptick of support for more online board participation.
Now, why is that, as virtual meetings certainly have their benefits including less travel! Our survey also indicated that virtual meetings helped to increase board member attendance — back to the issue of travel time perhaps. My assumption, supported by some of our data, aligns with a favorite quote from one of my governance colleagues - “I have yet to meet an effective board that does not also run effective meetings.” For several reasons, meeting effectiveness seemed to have decreased for many boards in the virtual space. Our data showed that virtual meetings were considerably shorter and suffered from less board member engagement which has had a strong negative impact on meeting effectiveness irrespective of higher meeting frequency and attendance (two other survey data points). Our data also showed that board and committee Chairs were particularly anxious about the effectiveness of their online meetings while seemingly less aware that their board colleagues are equally frustrated about not being heard in the virtual board space. However, there was also some good news in this respect as our survey demonstrated a positive relationship between meeting effectiveness and a willingness to embrace the virtual medium. In other words, when boards Do get it right they will be more willing to stick with some of their online meeting habits even when face-to-face options once again become readily available.
So this led to my attempt to assemble a set of best practice principles for virtual board meetings collected from my survey respondents and research done by others (see below). I am also eager to learn how boards have developed their virtual meeting practices since I posted this article and what role generative AI may play from recording, and analyzing to actively participating — this subject for a future post perhaps.
Design board meetings with intentionality mindful that in the virtual space… “Director’s attention to their roles and duties as Directors is less intentional / less formal than previously. Let’s say the whole process breeds informality, from attire to conversation, etc. This could pose risks.”
Emphasize the need for pre-work that goes beyond reading materials in advance…“Beyond preparing your board with reading materials in advance, boards can encourage members to exchange feedback ahead of the meeting, using file-sharing services and secure chat platforms.”
Find ways to replicate the pre-meeting diner experience given that… “Virtual meetings and engagements are very transactional by nature. A well-functioning Board requires opportunities to build P2P relationships. We are doing ok as those were in place before. As we see turnover and if we are unable to meet P2P, I wonder what the impacts will be on the functioning and effectiveness of the Board.”
Build-in Candor breaks that allow you to check the temperature of the Zoom room! “Chair or fellow directors will pause the discussion to ask their colleagues how they are feeling about the discussion and what they might need to do to get the conversation back on track.”
Establish an online meeting Code of Conduct that encourages certain behaviors and discourages others such as the use of video cameras and chat….“The tendency to go “camera off” is disappointing and impacts engagement and therefore behavior.”
Remember to energize and then reenergize your meeting to avoid online fatigue! “There is a definite convenience to virtual meetings in terms of timing, expense, time zone differences, etc. That said, I cannot see this being a full substitute for the real physical meeting because of the importance of eye-to-eye contact, body language, and other softer skills which are lost or muted in a virtual session. The analogy that comes to mind is the live concert versus the taped recording…there is nothing that can replace the energy of the live concert.” I certainly agree with this sentiment but there are now endless ways to help your colleagues clear their heads from Zoom fatigue and succeed in reenergizing the conversation.
This is a short shortlist of best practice approaches that we at the Directors College have put into action as we now enter our 14 months of online courses and continue to experiment with blending the best of both the digital and physical meeting space going forward.
Feel free to share your stories and recommendations.
Comments….
Independent NED/Chair Audit & Risk Committee — Thanks Michael, as always I enjoyed your perspective. Here in Australia we moved to virtual board meetings last year and for many boards the possibility of in-person meetings has not returned yet. It has been nearly 2 full annual cycles of virtual meetings.
My experience during this time has been mixed. Chairs that were focused on the board functioning well prior to Covid generally adapted better and more quickly. Boards that previously used technology to connect or had international members seemed better prepared initially.
Your observations reflect my experiences when chairing, and, I found myself more focused on intentionality. I’ve always thought boards need regular cognitive refresh during meetings and ordering the agenda with that in mind definitely helped me. Checking in regularly with colleagues outside of meetings has always been my practice but the conversations became richer and more personal during the last 18 months. While I occasionally back myself as a budding stand up comedian finding moments of levity seemed no longer appropriate and reenergising was particularly challenging.
I love your language around ‘candor’ breaks to discuss how to get meetings back on track. I will add that to my toolkit.
Non Executive Chairman & Board Director — Thanks for sharing Michael Hartmann , and for a great set of actions. I agree that an in person meeting has many benefits over virtual, but we as Chairs and Board Members must work to make our virtual Board meetings much better. Three practices in addition two yours I found working well are to do Polls in beginning of debates on issues, to fill the broader perspective first, and to devide into smaller breakoutroom discussions, to pre-discuss topics in smaller groups first, and to also use the smaller breakoutrooms for more frequent breaks and encourage discussions. Do you use polls and breakoutrooms in your board meetings?
