Subject: Publication of Board of Trustees' minutes

In my own experience as a Trustee and as an adviser to boards, it is best practice at the board meeting to agree what is confidential trustees business and what is not.  There is no reason why minutes of non-confidential business should not be circulated to staff, volunteers and interested parties, and confidential business recorded on separate sheets and kept separately by members of the board.  Items that may identify individuals and that may be commercially sensetive can be included within the confidential items.

Thanks very much for that useful reply. It is great to have some real-life input. T

I think Tina's advice is really useful. Widening up the issue, there is often a lot more information worth sharing (with staff especially) that is not in the minutes - and the language of minutes is pretty dense and difficult to understand! If the organisation is larger (say more than 50 staff and volunteers), its worth considering an emailed staff/volunteer briefing once a month - or more frequently if times are changing fast. Ideally this would come from the Chief Exec to make it more personal. What do you think, is this OTT?

I think regular communication is never over the top. Take for instance a new scheme implemented at Cass, where our leader meets staff inormally, every month in the canteen. It is his way of saying your opinions are really important to me, I have never been but,  it is nice to know that his staff are that important to him.  In this day and age where the world is at your fingertips with a click of a mouse, there seems no reason why a board or a CEO should seem aloof to their key stakeholders.

@ ianburce: Yes indeed it can be a very powerful communication tool. We are a larger organisation and we have a monthly staff & volunteers newsletter covering numerous topics. This often includes article(s) from the Chair and / or Chief Exec on recent happenings with respect to Board decisions, policies etc.

I would say that the language of minutes doesn't have to be dense or difficult to understand, rather that it is dependant on the skills of the writer; and their ability to produce a reasoned report of a meeting which may have had extreme highs and / or lows ( or indeed toys-out-of-prams).

@ ianbruce & squli: Again, yes indeed. Our approach differs slightly, but we have regular Information & Consultation Sessions with staff (facilitated by the Directors) where major changes, decisions, policies etc are openly discussed and opinions sought. These sessions also allow an opportunity for staff to raise other issues they wish considered and discussed. They are by no means a perfect solution, but they do go a long way to ensure we openly consult our staff on issues.