The board keeps asking me to change things in the minutes. How do I know who's right?

After our last meeting I sent the draft minutes to the board for review. One member said I included too much detail. Another said I didn't include enough. A third suggested a different way to summarize part of the discussion. I spent more time on revisions than I did writing the original draft. How am I supposed to know what's right?

Welcome to the part of this job nobody warned you about.

Board members often react to how they felt about the meeting rather than what the minutes actually need to accomplish. The member who wants more detail is frequently the one who made the longest speech. The one who wants less is often the one who said something they're now quietly reconsidering.

When a board member requests a change, ask yourself one question: does this make the record more accurate, or does it make someone more comfortable? If it's the former, make the change. If it's the latter, you're allowed to push back — politely, but clearly.

The other thing worth doing: get your board chair aligned on what good minutes look like before the next meeting. A chair who says "the minutes look right to me" gives you cover and ends the revision spiral faster than anything else.

And the next time a board member wants their exact words in the official record, you can gently remind them that verbatim transcripts are actually riskier for the organization than a clean summary. That usually ends the conversation.