Make Room on the Agenda: How to Prioritize the Governance Topics to Create Boardroom Value

Boards are under growing pressure to add more topics to already crowded agendas. Culture, ESG, AI, talent, stakeholder expectations, and many other topics can all be described as “good governance.” The problem is that when everything belongs on the board agenda, nothing is truly prioritized.


This 90-minute workshop reframes agenda design as a Boardroom ROI discipline. Boards do not meet their duties by trying to cover every possible governance topic. They meet their duties by applying judgment to what matters most for their organization. 

For governance professionals, this means helping boards move from agenda accumulation to agenda stewardship: making intentional choices about what needs board and committee attention. The session will also address a common barrier: the fear that removing or reducing topics will make the board appear less diligent or less aligned with peer practice.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants will gain insight into:

  • Distinguish between necessary governance oversight and low-value agenda accumulation, including topics that require meaningful board attention and which may be consuming time without creating equivalent value.
  • Redesign the board’s agenda and annual workplan to better reflect the organization’s current strategy, key risks, opportunities, priorities, and maturity.
  • Identify alternative ways to handle lower-value or lower-urgency topics, including committee review, consent agendas, escalation guardrails, minimal or periodic reporting, management processes, deferred timing or removed.
  • Support boards in making disciplined agenda trade-offs, especially where directors are concerned about peer practice, fiduciary duties, or the optics of removing topics.
Facilitated by Patricia Bood. 


"Make Room on the Agenda" is part of the Governance Knowledge Bucket. This program is suitable for all levels of governance professionals, but we recommend levels 2 and up. Want to learn more about your governance level and the GPC Knowledge Buckets? Take our GP Career Advancement and Benchmarking Tool exclusive to GPC! 

Registration:

  • GPC Members:   $250 + HST
  • Non-Members:   $350 + HST

2 GECs are available for this training.
When
1/27/2027 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Eastern Standard Time
Where
Online Online CANADA
Registration
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