Orbit Activity 4

Almost every person in the workplace in today’s world participates in meetings and many have to run meetings. This activity is to give you a clear and solid understanding of how to run an effective meeting, not only in Rostrum, but in a community group, or at work.

Activity 4 – Lead a challenging meeting

Duration: Whole meeting
Pre-requisites: Completion of Launchpad Program

Aim

To successfully lead a meeting to its conclusion and cover all the necessary business.

Objectives

  1. To accurately and appropriately cover all of the protocols of meetings. This includes opening, apologies, minutes, reports, speakers, closing, etc.
  2. To ensure every person at the meeting is equitably treated so those who wish to speak, have the opportunity, and that no one, two or more people dominate the meeting
  3. To effectively discuss issues and make decisions in the meeting

The Why…

Almost every person in the workplace in today’s world participates in meetings and many have to run meetings. This activity is to give you a clear and solid understanding of how to run an effective meeting, not only in Rostrum, but in a community group, or at work.

The How

Specific guidelines on how to tackle this activity.

Follow the agenda, which will have been prepared for you by your Rostrum Program Director. If you’re chairing a meeting outside Rostrum, you may be the person that needs to prepare the agenda. Regardless, have a very clear sequence and process and stick to it.

Tips and traps

Tips:

  • Have an agenda. Make sure you follow the agenda in the order it’s written. Also, make sure you get the agenda before the meeting, so you can do some preparation and be aware of what you need to do.
  • Have a sheet next to you so you can keep a tally of who speaks, whether they’re for or against, whether they make a comment, or if they ask a question. This is particularly useful when you’re making a group decision.
  • Read the booklets about running meetings in your Rostrum Compendium, under ‘Resources’. They’re very easy, quick reads. It’s strongly recommended you read those very carefully.
  • Your aim is to guide the meeting to a satisfactory conclusion, so everyone feels they’ve been heard, and their ideas have made a contribution to the meeting.
  • As a chair, don’t talk too much. The best, most effective chairs of meetings say the least. Let the members speak.
  • Have an actions table. If there are actions that are decided on in the meeting, ensure there’s a list (a table is best) that describes:
    • The person responsible
    • The action (with sub-tasks if necessary)
    • The timeline for completion
    • Who should be notified, or what action needs to be taken on completion

Traps:

  • You’re not the boss. When you’re the chair of a meeting, you’re the captain of the ship, not the boss. It’s not your meeting. It’s the group’s meeting. A common phrase about meetings is that ‘the chair is the first among equals’.
  • Allowing people to derail a conversation. It’s your job as chair to keep the meeting on track. Use the ‘parking lot’ method if there are good points, questions or discussions that need to be had. This way attendees know they’ve been heard, and know that you’re ‘parking’ that conversation or question for later, not ignoring or forgetting about it.
  • Going over time. Ensure the meeting doesn’t run overtime. Do this by having clear timing in place and remind members if some conversations start to drag out. ‘Being mindful of the time, I’d like to….’ (bring this part of the meeting to a close and move on to the next section… or whatever you’d like to do). This is a gentle way to remind the meeting attendees to stay focused so the meeting can conclude in a timely manner.
  • Letting the conversation go off topic. If this happens, reign the conversation in and refer back to the agenda items.

Guidelines for Program Director:

It’s strongly suggested you ease members into this activity. Some members may not want to chair the meeting. Respect that wish, but ease them into it. Chairing a meeting is a crucial skill in the overall development of a member joining Rostrum. If a member is reluctant, make it a relatively easy meeting for them to chair. Perhaps don’t have a decision making exercise in that meeting.

Give members at least 2 weeks notice they’re going to be the chair and refer them to the booklets (how to run a meeting) at the back of the compendium.

It’s always wise for a member in the chair for the first time, to have the President or an experienced member sitting next to them. Not to take over, but to be there to answer the occasional question, and to give a bit of guidance if needed. You may orchestrate that. It could be you or the program director who decides to sit next to a new member running a
meeting for their first time.