How high-performing directors prepare for board meetings — and how AI can help

Directors know that to be effective, they need to come to board meetings prepared. But, with their roles becoming more complex and time in limited supply, many are wondering how they can make their preparation more efficient and more impactful. And as AI revolutionises the world of work, they’re also asking how technology might help them, too.

Here’s our take on how high-performing directors prepare for board meetings — and how AI can support smart, focused board meeting preparation.

Boards are under pressure. Expectations from regulators, investors, employees and customers are rising, and we’re navigating a turbulent and unpredictable environment. Director workload is growing, too; 70% of directors surveyed by search firm Spencer Stuart said their workload is increasing, and 30% said the time commitment is greater than they expected.

Unsurprisingly, many are finding it hard to keep up. The Board Value Index, a survey conducted by Board Intelligence, found that nearly half of directors think their board isn’t adding enough value and nearly a third believe their board adds no value at all.

Board meetings are not the only way in which directors add value, but they are one of the most important — because they are where the organisation’s most experienced heads come together to make its biggest decisions.

For directors, effective meeting preparation isn’t optional. It's the difference between governance that guides and adds value, and governance that drifts and drains resources.

Litigators know this too. As one senior commercial litigator told me at a recent Board Intelligence event: “The minutes are the record of the company. They reflect what directors contributed over time, and they’re the first place that litigators look for evidence when something goes wrong.”

Most of the directors I know are highly motivated and appreciate the responsibility they carry. They want to come to meetings fully prepared: well-informed, clear where their input is required, and focused on the decisions and discussions that matter most.

Unfortunately, they face a few recurring challenges that make it hard for them to do so consistently. These include:

• Information overload: there’s too much information to read and understand.
• Lack of time: information is shared too late for directors to digest it fully before board meetings.
• Poor-quality board materials: papers aren’t clear or concise, and lack relevant, actionable insight.
• Overcrowded agendas: agendas try to cover too much or don’t align with what matters.

Information overload is a particularly persistent problem. The average board pack is now 207 pages long. With the average director being able to read up to 30 pages an hour, a typical board pack now takes two full working days to read. Yet our research has found that directors spend just 3-4 hours on each one. The maths just doesn’t add up.

“It’s incredibly frustrating as a board member when you receive 1,200 pages to read over the weekend and, as a result, you can’t see the wood for the trees. By the time you’ve got through all of that you realise you’re missing the big picture.”

Sir John Manzoni, Chair, Atomic Weapons Establishment and SSE — read the interview

Through our research, director interviews and client work, we’ve identified 7 ways directors can prepare brilliantly for board meetings. They are:

1. Review papers early
2. Improve the quality of the board pack
3. Build forward-looking agendas
4. Look beyond the board pack
5. Use technology for collaboration
6. Focus on questions, not just content
7. Flip the meeting model

The first 3 are foundational, so-called “hygiene factors”, and the final 4 are practices that separate high-performing directors from the rest. Let’s look at each of them in detail.

Why? Boards work best when directors have time to read, understand, clarify, and — crucially — think. Yet 35% of directors say their materials aren’t distributed early enough for adequate review.

How? Set a clear publishing deadline 5–7 days before the meeting and stick to it. Use your board portal to automate reminders and flag late submissions.

Why? Well-written papers sharpen thinking and save time — not just for the board, but for management too. They help directors focus on the big picture, get to the crux of the issue, and understand where their input is required. Yet only 36% of board members think their board packs add value. Commonly reported issues include:

• Papers that are too backward-looking
• Reports that share information but not insight or implications
• Briefings that are too internally focused, lacking insight into the wider market and external developments
• Board packs that are too dense and detailed, and which make it hard to focus on the key messages

How? Set up systems and tools that will help management deliver high-quality board materials, consistently. For example, executive summaries, structured templates, and KPI dashboards that link metrics to big picture goals. Encourage teams to write with purpose, structuring their papers using frameworks like the Question Driven Insight Principle to trim unnecessary detail and surface the ‘so what’. Consider using specialist board reporting software and offering training to report writers to help them raise the quality bar.

Pro tip: Read our guides to creating effective board packs and writing better board papers for more detailed tips and tricks.

Why? Effective meeting preparation starts with a focused meeting agenda that’s aligned with the organisation’s priorities and looks to the future. Most boards get the opposite: an agenda that’s stuck in the weeds and focused on what’s happened, rather than what’s important or on the horizon. Our research has found that only 44% of boards spend more time in meetings looking forwards than backwards.

How? Don’t copy and paste meeting agendas. Follow a structured process, led by the chair and company secretary, to align your forward calendar with your board’s priorities. Rethink how you use meeting time to prioritise the topics and decisions that matter and ensure the board is sufficiently forward-looking.

You can use the "jar of life" principle to do this: put the big rocks (the strategic topics) in first, then fill the rest of the agenda in around them. When planning your agenda, make sure you leave headroom for urgent topics, so they don’t crowd out strategic ones. Tools like consent agendas can also help to clear routine items efficiently and make space for strategic topics. Use features like Agenda Planner within your board portal to ease the administrative burden.

Pro tip: Read our guide to planning effective board meeting agendas for more detailed agenda planning guidance.

Why? Papers can only show what management knows (or wants to tell you). As the IoD reported in its analysis of the UK Post Office scandal, relying solely on internal voices risks groupthink and blind spots.

How? Directors should ask “What are we missing?” and take proactive steps to fill in the gaps by getting out into the business and sourcing external data or perspectives (industry trends, competitor analysis, and stakeholder views, for example).

There are many ways directors can do this. When planning the board’s annual calendar, make space for outside speakers and regular, timely board development to keep directors’ skills and knowledge up to date. Bring in external experts — for example, in guest speaker slots at board meetings, or over board dinners — to sense-check your assumptions and deepen your understanding. This is especially useful when there’s a big decision to make or a significant issue or opportunity is emerging. Specialist board reporting software, like Lucia from Board Intelligence, can prompt management to consider external developments and outside perspectives when writing papers, ensuring this insight is more readily available to board members.

“As a board member, you need to spend time in the business. It’s a blunt instrument, but how much time directors spend engaging with the business and its stakeholders is a powerful indicator.”

Alison Platt, Chair Ageas UK and NED, Tesco — read the interview

Why? Great board meeting preparation isn’t a solo activity. When directors prepare together, the organisation is able to tap into the board’s collective intelligence. Collaboration leads to better debate and more robust decision-making and helps chairs make better use of valuable meeting time.

How? Use a board portal to make and share notes on documents, tagging or colour-coding notes to group them by theme or status and make them easier to come back to later. Raise clarification questions in advance, so that details can be checked and papers updated, if necessary, to ensure directors have the most accurate, up to date information.

Pre-meeting collaboration is particularly useful for chairs. They can ask directors to flag the key questions they want to address in the meeting or conduct an anonymous pre-meeting survey to gauge opinions on key proposals. This makes it easier for them to steer the discussion, ensure every member’s voice is heard, and successfully navigate potentially contentious issues.

You can also use your board portal to share useful tools and reference documents, such as jargon busters and glossaries, handbooks, and policy documents, to pre-empt and help directors self-serve on frequently asked questions.

Why? Insight doesn’t come from reading, it comes from asking the right questions. Questions spark curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking and are vital fuel for high-quality discussion, debate, and decision-making. The most effective directors are characterised by their inquiring nature, and high-performing boards have a culture of open inquiry and healthy, respectful dissent.

How? Use a ‘preparation checklist’. This can help to structure your thinking, as well as reminding you to ask the right questions as you’re engaging with the meeting materials. This could include questions like:

• What’s changed since last time?
• What assumptions are we relying on, and how robust are they?
• Have we considered all the options?
• What risk are we underestimating?
• What’s missing?

It may sound simple, but we’ve found such checklists help directors cut through noise, engage critically with the information that’s been presented to them, and bring forward-thinking insight to the table.

It can be useful to develop different question sets for different types of information or discussion. For example, directors should ask different questions when scrutinising a decision paper than when reviewing a routine management report. Chairs may also ask individual directors to play a specific role during a discussion – like devil’s advocate. Having different question sets at their fingertips can make it easier for directors to approach the information from a different perspective.

The chair can also weave generative discussion into the agenda; posing a question like “What emerging risk are we not discussing enough?” and asking directors to come prepared to discuss it.

Why? Preparation doesn’t just change what happens before the meeting, it changes the meeting itself. When it’s clear the goal is to move things forward, and not simply to receive information and keep tabs on performance, it changes how people use their preparation time and makes it more likely the meeting will add value to the organisation. However, from our research with NACD members, we know that meetings are often not set up that way; slides to be presented in the meeting make up 50% of the board deck in US companies.

How? Flip the meeting by watching pre-recorded updates and reading reports in advance. Preserve the meeting itself for discussion, dissent, and decision-making. This model leads to shorter, sharper meetings, more strategic conversations, and greater director accountability. But it only works if prep is taken seriously.

To make this work, the chair needs to set a clear expectation that papers are read in advance, and that time in the meeting is not for listening to management present information that could and should have been read in advance.

Preparation doesn’t have to be painful. With the right mindset, the right culture, and the right tools, it can become an asset.

Book a demo to see how Insight Driver can transform the way your board prepares for meetings – and give your directors a head start, not a headache.