Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, people continue to attend governance meetings online. While this could be an inconvenience for those who would prefer to attend in person, it is an excellent opportunity for the administration to demonstrate their responsiveness and civic engagement.
The primary challenge is to ensure that the correct technology for participation is in place and that it is supported by voice, screen and video sharing all important. Many organizations rely on emailing information packages with attachments or file-sharing software with folders that can be downloaded. However, these solutions are not able to support the organized process and distribution of agenda items.
Other issues are that it’s difficult to engage in the informal conversations that typically accompany face-to-face meetings. However, it is an important way for people to establish trust and connect with one another so enabling this by opening the meeting earlier and providing intentional time for informal connections or using the chat functionality in your virtual meeting platform for smaller groups can aid in building the relationships that will enable effective and efficient governance.
Governance meetings can also be a useful way to fine-tune Roles and responsibilities as new members join the team new roles, or new work demands attention. This can prevent discussions taking over other meetings and enables the team to be as efficient and effective as it is possible.
