Despite the COVID-19 pandemic people have continued to attend governance meetings on the internet. While this is an inconvenience for those who prefer to be in person, it’s a great opportunity for administrations to demonstrate their willingness to be responsive and engage with the community.
The biggest challenge is to ensure that the right technology is in place to enable participation in meetings, with video, voice and screen sharing being important components. Many organisations have resorted to sending out a plethora of information with attachments, or file-sharing services with folders that must be downloaded, however these aren’t able to support the logical processing of agenda items including recording and distribution of historical information and so on.
Other issues are that it’s more difficult to engage in informal conversations that often accompany meetings that are held in person. It is also a great method of building relationships and build trust. By opening the meeting early, including time for informal conversations or using the chat function within your virtual meeting platform, you can build the relationships necessary for strong and effective governance.
Governance meetings can also be used to fine-tune roles and responsibilities when new team members join or roles are altered or a new task is needed. This helps avoid discussions hijacking other meetings, and allows the team to be as efficient and effective as is possible.