Meetings are necessary to share info and to take shared and supported decisions, however meetings could become a huge overheads and a battleground, often meeting attendees do have hidden agendas.
A key success factor to optimize value out of meeting is the Charman role, as a Chairman You can make the difference between a productive or an overhead meeting time, as every aspect of management running a meeting require skills and clear plan / tools / processes:
Key actions and factors:
- Opening
- Keep Control
- Topics coverage
- Foster Participation
- Summarising and Closure
- Actions after the meeting and reporting
Opening
A good start to the meeting will make a great deal of difference. It is your chance to assert your authority and lay down the ground rules.
Some things to take into account are:
- start on time
- clearly state the purpose and agenda of meeting
- Round call for expectations
- make introductions
- clearly announce the agenda and timetable of the meeting (finish and break times)
Control & Manage
Balance between control and participation !!
- stick to the agenda and keep to time
- bring discussion back to the point asking questions
- deal with emotional by referring to the task,
- try to avoid leading with your opinion.
- control If a speaker gets long-winded, watch for an opportunity to break in and ask someone else about their view
Encouraging Participation
One of the central elements of an effective meeting is the quality of participation and involvement of those present. The Chair plays a key role in encouraging and managing the contributions of participants.
- always ask for a range of viewpoints. Use questions – open, general, direct and probing
- try to be unbiased
- make eye contact with all attendees
- observe – notice who is not contributing, bring them in by asking them if they have any views or ideas
- avoid putting down someone’s suggestions or contribution
- thank people for their contributions
- make sure everyone understands what is being said
- allow debate, but don’t allow hostility or conflict to develop.
Summarising and Closure
Summarising is a particularly useful strategy to adopt when leading meetings. It can be used:
- when discussion is drying up or is degenerating into “social chatting”
- to highlight and emphasise the mood of the group,
- when contributions become rambling or repetitive,
- to conclude a particular item before moving on to the next one
- to clarify what has been agreed.
Close the meeting by thanking everyone for their attendance and their contributions. If there is to be a further meeting, aim to set the date and venue before closing the meeting.
Actions After Meetings
The meeting is not an end in itself. An effective meeting can be measured by its results – the actions people take as a consequence of the meeting.
Call report is a key tool for meeting ( see next article )
