That means, being focused on the job at hand. The role of the board is to set and challenge management, so you need to be performing at your best at meetings, to ensure that in the short time when you have access to the information and to management, that you can fulfill your role effectively. The concepts of mindfulness and neuroscience though can be adopted at meetings to help directors overcome these challenges and improve the decision-making processes and abilities of boards.

They have the absolute best intentions for the organisation’s performance but often board directors will arrive at a meeting distracted by other matters, and modern technology has exacerbated the issue – phones may be on silent, but messages, emails and call alerts are still coming through, taking attention away from the what’s being discussed around the table. These are often busy people who have just spent a day in their profession or business, and they come to the boardroom focused on a range of matters that have happened over the course of their day. When we consider that meetings typically run for three to four hours each time, and that they’re mostly held after working hours, it stands to reason that directors may already have cognitive depletion when they arrive. The whole point of sitting on a board is to make decisions – yet board meetings are often not conducive for optimal decision-making.ĭirectors are often distracted and tired when they turn up for a meeting, which impacts on people’s decision-making abilities, and therefore can impact on the board’s performance.

When we enter the boardroom for a meeting, we know we’re going to make decisions and it may take a while.

Mindful meetings