Do your business meetings or Zoom calls drag on and on? Start the meeting on time. You can’t finish on time if you don’t start on time. Having a set agenda will definitely help. Even better, have a consent agenda where informational items are prepared and sent out to attendees in advance so mundane committee reports don’t consume a lot of valuable discussion time for more important things.
One of the most useful tools for efficient meetings is a “consent agenda”. This is a single item of business on a regular agenda that includes several items bundled together. The items cannot be discussed or debated. They are approved with a single vote. If an item is removed from the consent agenda, it can be placed under New Business” and discussed there. This method requires that the members read their board packets in advance, review the draft minutes and other content, and be alert when the consent agenda is reached.
The word “agenda” is derived from the Latin verb “ago”, meaning “to drive on, set in motion”, for example of cattle.
What is now known in English as an agenda is a list of individual items that must be “acted upon” or processed, that is, those matters which must be discussed at a business meeting.
A meeting agenda may be headed with the date, time, and location of the meeting, followed by a series of points outlining the order in which the business is to be conducted.
A consent agenda (also known by Roberts Rules of Order as a “consent calendar”) groups routine meeting discussion points into a single agenda item. In so doing, the grouped items can be approved in one action, rather than through the filing of multiple motions. For example, team meeting reports, treasurer’s report, and approval of the last meeting minutes.
Meetings should be conducted and governed by an agenda. One of the first actions at any meeting is to approve, amend, and motion to adopt the agenda. Robert’s Rules of Orders conflicts a bit with the Brown Act on this point, but an appropriate blend of the two should result in a printed agenda that outlines:
- Items for Information
- Items for Discussion
- Items for Action
Every item on the agenda should be properly listed in one of these categories with a brief description, the name of the person presenting the item, the precise amount of time allocated for the item, and a recommendation for action, when appropriate. Before the meeting can begin, the agenda must be “adopted”.
Contrary to popular myth, Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised does not require that every single item be handled with the full pomp and circumstance of a motion, second, debate, and vote. Some decisions are either routine or are so widely supported that to make approval a separate action would bog the meeting down.
A consent agenda is a board meeting practice that groups routine business and reports into one agenda item. The consent agenda can be approved in one action, rather than filing motions on each item separately. Using a consent agenda can save boards anywhere from a few minutes to a half-hour.
This time-saving tool streamlines routine meeting item approvals and frees up meeting time for the discussion of matters that require the greatest amount of attention and deliberation.
If you believe a consent agenda may enable more efficient meetings, you will need to follow these essential use rules:
All documentation associated with consent items must be provided to meeting participants in advance so that they can still make an informed vote on all grouped items. Team members must review the documentation before the meeting to ensure that they are informed of the issues that are to be passed as part of the consent group.
Meeting members must be given an opportunity to ask associated questions — and have them answered — before the vote. Questions and answers should be shared with all meeting participants. Simple questions, clarifications, or short amounts of dialogue relative to a consent item may be discussed after the motion, but before approval. What is important is not to remove consent items entirely from the consent agenda for the sole purpose of answering a simple question, as this would undermine the efficiency of the consent agenda process.
On meeting day, include the consent agenda as part of the meeting agenda, or as a separate agenda document.
At the start of the meeting, the meeting chair should ask meeting attendees if anyone wants to discuss any of the items listed on the consent agenda.
If it is determined that an item on the consent agenda requires discussion it must be removed from the consent portion and addressed individually. For future meetings in which there is no question or concern over the item, it may be placed back into the consent portion of the agenda.
An item from the consent agenda must be moved at the request of any team member if the individual wants to vote against the specific item — as the item no longer has the consolidated approval of the team. This discussion step is critical, as consent agendas may not be used to force the approval of items through the use of a process that eliminates their individual review.
The meeting chair must read aloud the remaining consent items and may move to adopt the consent agenda as a whole. It is not necessary for a vote to be taken on the consent agenda. Instead, the items may be approved, pending the absence of any objections.
The clerk must include in the meeting minutes the full text of all resolutions and reports that were approved as part of the consent group, even though they were not reviewed at the meeting, but instead, beforehand by each voting member.
What Types of Items Should be Included in the Consent Portion of the Agenda?
For greatest efficiency, include the following types of items in the consent portion of your meeting agendas:
- Topics of a routine/recurring nature
- Procedural decisions
- Non-controversial issues that do not require debate or deliberation
- Items previously discussed for which the team has come to a consensus, but that still need an official vote
The following items are typically best suited as consent items:
- The previous meetings’ minutes
- Financial reports or any other reports that are informational only and that do not require debate
- The Executive Director’s report
- Individual team/program/department reports
- Committee appointments
- Staff appointments that require confirmation
SUMMARY
With the use of a consent agenda, it is imperative that members still review all corresponding documents, ask clarifying questions before the meeting, request discussion when necessary, and pull items that one feels they cannot approve. There are efficiencies to be gained from consent agendas as they can be used as a tool to free up meeting time for discussion on valuable, impactful topics, but only when used correctly and when proper attention is still paid to each included item.
SOURCES
Agenda (meeting) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (accessed 05/17/2020)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_(meeting)
How to Use a Consent Agenda to Save Time and Focus on Critical Matters by Jennifer Leibrock, CivicClerk Solutions Director (accessed 05/15/2020)
https://www.civicplus.com/blog/am/how-to-use-a-consent-agenda-to-save-time-and-refocus-discussion-on-critical-matters
Using a Consent Agenda by Colette Collier Trohan, Certified Professional Parliamentarian (accessed 05/17/2020)
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1788/email/pdfJhiKbxCfD8.pdf
Robert’s Rules of Order, A Primer for Parliamentary Procedures by the Academic Senate of Napa Valley College (accessed 05/15/2020)
http://www.napavalley.edu/Committees/AS/Documents/Elections/Robert%C2%B9s%20Rules%20of%20Order.pdf
Robert’s Rules of Order derived from the original 1915 version with modifications and enhancements (accessed 05/17/2020)
https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/roberts_rules/chap2.html#AG
Consent agenda: great tool for speedier meetings by Ann Macfarlane, September 5, 2019 (accessed 05/17/2020)
https://jurassicparliament.com/consent-agenda-in-roberts-rules/
Agenda in Robert’s Rules by Ann Macfarlane, September 10, 2019 (accessed 05/17/2020)
https://jurassicparliament.com/agenda-in-roberts-rules/
David Robert Lambert 
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