Consent Agenda
I previously suggested that boards often fill their meetings with agenda items which take the organization nowhere. Although frustrated with motion after tedious motion, many board members don’t know how they could reduce the time taken by these legally required or traditional board meeting issues.
The government acts or regulations within which board-led organizations are created often stipulate items which must be approved by the board. This list can include several routine items which staff have screened but still require board confirmation. No board discussion has happened on these items in the past few years. A motion is duly moved and seconded and unanimously approved over and over. Other organizations are in the habit of putting certain items on their agenda and are concerned that the board would be negligent if they removed such items. Handling all these motions takes time and the scheduled hour of adjournment arrives before the board members have had a chance to discuss any new initiatives or address any of the organization’s significant challenges.
With a consent agenda the myriad of necessary board approvals can be handled in one motion, leaving the majority of the meeting time to discuss issues which will benefit from the insights and wisdom of the organization’s leaders. A consent agenda is one in which all the items that may not require any discussion are listed as subpoints to one agenda item. This consent agenda list might include:
- - the approval of the minutes of the last meeting,
- receipt of the past month’s financial report,
- approval of new members in the organization,
- approval of new staff to be hired by a publicly funded organization,
- approval of donations to be made to community groups,
- approval of the draft agenda for the annual meeting,
- approval of the capital purchase selections that are within the previously approved capital purchase budget,
- receipt of the CEO’s or ED’s operational report, and
- receipt of correspondence directed to the board.
A motion to approve the consent agenda is moved and seconded and the board members vote once to handle all these items.
You might be thinking this isn’t feasible because there could be an element in one of these reports which needs the board’s attention. Only agenda items that tend not to spark discussion are put on the consent agenda, and on occasions when such an item does require discussion it can be pulled out of the consent agenda before the vote and made a separate agenda item. This permits discussion as appropriate while greatly reducing the time taken by straight forward matters.
When the long list of rubber-stamping agenda items is not legally required, but rather a tradition, the board has two choices. It can use the consent agenda so the items still show up in the meeting minutes, or it can remove them from the agenda all together. For example, when the annual budget approval included the purchasing of two laptop computers, an LCD projector, and related software not to exceed $4,000 and the staff have a quote for $3,800 there is nothing for the board to approve. The staff is simply carrying out the direction the board has already given them, so an agenda item to again approve the intent to purchase is not only unnecessary; it is redundant and confusing. The computer purchase will show up on the standard financial report after the fact.
Boards are usually composed of individuals who have something to offer the organization. By using a consent agenda which allows the routine business to be addressed in a couple of minutes, the balance of the meeting time is available for meaningful discussion. Board members now have time to contribute their wisdom and insights to directing the organization’s future.
