Do Business Well

A meeting is as good as its chairperson. Taking the lead as chairperson calls for all the leadership skills you can muster. You have to act as guide, facilitator and interpreter, all at the same time and without getting your feathers ruffled.

Here is some useful advice:

Prepare a specialised agenda

Make sure that the secretary prepares a special version of the agenda for you during the last few days before the meeting. This should have more information than the ordinary agenda provides.

Spaces on the right-hand side of the paper allow you to add your own written remarks as the meeting proceeds. Make sure that your secretary has given you all the necessary documents that you may need to refer to during the meeting.

Time the agenda

We all know when a meeting is set to begin, but when does it end? Decide beforehand on a reasonable length of time for a meeting and announce it to the group when you gather. If the business calls for more than two hours, set another meeting.

Allot a time for each item on the agenda, jot it in the margin and stick to it as far as possible. Here is a sample of a timed agenda:

Agenda

1. Meeting of the Policy Board
2. To be held on Friday, 15 July at 14:15 in the Board Room
3.  Welcome and roll call
4. Apologies for absence
5. Reading of minutes of last meeting
6. Reports of officers (e.g. treasurer’s financial report)
7. Reports of standing committees
8. Matters arising from the minutes
9. New business
10. Announcements (date, time and place of next meeting)
11. Adjournment

Keep order

I enjoy a meeting chaired by a woman. How about you? I find them fresh, less formal, more flexible and more democratic because everyone is encouraged to participate.

A potential danger is that meetings can get out of hand. To avoid this, insist that all speakers address the chair. Protect the rights of each individual by refusing to allow emotional outbursts or personal attacks.

Keeping order in the meeting is simplified if you understand the dynamics of the group. If you look around any group, you will easily recognise various personality types. Each group has its own mix, but certain types seem to pop up in every one.

To be a successful chairperson, you should recognise the assets and liabilities of each type and harness their strengths. Deal tactfully but authoritatively with potential problems otherwise you will be considered weak.

Here is a list of the main personalities and their dominant qualities, followed by useful hints for handling them:

In the space provided make a chart of a meeting where you are in the chair. Write down the names of the group. Identify their contributions to the discussion. Here is an example to follow:

On the basis of your analysis, ask yourself:

1. Who talked to whom?
2. Who is spoken to most frequently within the group?
3. Who contributes the least?
4. Which people formed a clique?
5. Who makes the decisions?
6. Who held up the group when making decisions?

You will also learn about your own behaviour. What is your most dominant style? Do you tend to block, compromise, talk too much, only support or just listen? Try another style at your next meeting.

“Well, Bill, we have heard your idea for cutting down on production costs and Petro’s idea for employing temporary staff. What action can we take to get our best value for money?”

This positive comment keeps everyone on track and allows people to clarify items that have not been properly understood.

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