News flash: When corporate boards talk with major investor groups, investor relations improves.

That nugget comes to us from Risk Metrics, which recently published a study of six boards engaged in the practice of actually speaking with other human beings. I know that’s a rare habit among boards (especially those in the financial sector), but it’s refreshing to see that at least some have used training available from the Institute for Common Sense and apparently put it to good use.

I’ve always wondered what the logic was behind not speaking with your investors, especially when the alternative is to let leave them unattended and usually unhappy. You might learn something (like that $20 million severance package isn’t too popular) or gain support for that new takeover opportunity you’ve been considering. At the very least, you keep your investors from wandering off with private equity firms or similar shady characters.

Pfizer, a trend-setter in corporate governance issues, broke the ground here with its decision to start meeting shareholders back in 2007. UnitedHealth followed suit, although not until it had already ousted its CEO over backdated stock options. I don’t know how many other companies open the door to investors—I suspect many such conversations do happen, but only behind closed doors, actually—but any talk is good talk.

As to Risk Metrics’ paper, the two most interesting conclusions were:

successful meetings don’t always need to reach resolution to be a success; sometimes progress alone is enough to keep everyone happy; and

investor groups sometimes debated each other more than they sparred with the board.

It’s a paper worth reading if you dabble in investor relations as part of your job.

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