I DON’T KNOW HOW TO CHAIR A MEETING!
I’ve been asked to chair a meeting about the Christmas office party. But I’m incredibly nervous as I’ve never chaired one before. Is there a secret for success? You may never have chaired a meeting but as you’ve probably been to lots you’ll have seen it done well and badly. Think about the things that please and annoy you and build on them. Make sure everyone has the agenda well in advance, and check that you know enough about the participants and issues to be discussed. Arrange for the room to be cool rather than warm; people will be less likely to sleep. See yourself as a referee whose job is to ensure fair play through careful watching and listening. You must ensure that the timid have a chance to say what they want; deal in a diplomatic way with the argumentative and to be kind to the person you have asked to take notes. Getting that individual on your side is essential if you want the record to reflect your desired outcomes. It’s normal to suggest what should be left out of the minutes and now any difficult bits should be phrased. Unit 11
Make sure you stick to the time you have allowed for each point and keep things moving by not letting people wander off the subject. Get decisions made and recorded, even if it’s only to postpone matters until the next meeting. If someone is being difficult, defuse things by offering to continue the discussion personally at a more appropriate time. If the meeting is likely to be more than a couple of hours long, try to include a break at the mid-point; it acts as a marker and stops people getting restless. Aim is to leave everyone feeling they have had a chance to say what they wanted to say and gain lasting and well-deserved popularity by finishing when you said the meeting would finish.
How to start. As a Chairperson, you have done a lot – you have sent out a clear agenda, worked with your administrative support to set up a room with refreshments, and all the people invited have turned up except for one. You are ready to start, and you know you must start with impact- how do you now go forward in a way that demonstrates your presence? Here are some tips: As each person arrives, say hello and introduce yourself to anyone you don’t know, and be sure to state, “Hello, welcome-name is Jane Goodwin and I am the Chair this afternoon”. Try to start the meeting on time even if not everyone is present- that is their problem, and bad manners (ask the minute taker to make a note of the names of anyone missing, so that you can speak with them later) Then begin with something like … “Hi, everyone. Thank you for coming. As you know, we still have one or two people missing and I have one apology from Sarah Hodges who is off sick. However, we have quite a large agenda and so I am going to start and when the others arrive they can join in. My name is Jane Goodwin and I am the Customer Care Liaison Officer and I have been asked to chair these meetings. To my right is Phil Norman who is acting as administrative support for these meetings and will be taking the minutes. I think it would be useful for all of us, including Phil, if we all introduce ourselves quickly before starting.”
If you have any ‘rules’ or ‘points’ you want to state, now would be a good time. For example: “ At the end of this meeting I will be arranging the date for the next meeting and therefore anyone who needs to go and fetch their diary should do so during the scheduled break. At the moment I am thinking in terms of fortnightly meetings until the project settles down. We might then move to monthly.”
Now, you are ready to move on to the items…
“ Thank you. Now the first item is discussing the terms of reference of the group and also creating a behavioural charter so that we can be very clear about the focus of the group discussions and also how we, as a group, would like to operate. Let’s start with the terms of references. Mark, would you like to start us off by presenting this item?” If anyone enters either during or after beginning your speech, nod an acknowledgement but do not go back and repeat everything. The meeting should be off and flowing with you on charge. Remember you cannot sit back; you need to be totally focused and you may have to interject now and again. There are three reasons for you to interject: You wish to move the process on. You want to ask a question or clarify a point You wish to issue some warning, calm a situation down, or issue a “red card” People become very excited by their own subject, which is why it can be so difficult to keep people to time. As soon as someone begins to deviate from the original topic, you need to make a fast decision. If you decide that the conversation needs to be brought back in line, you need to resume control. For example: “ I need to interject here, there is ten minutes allocated for this item, and we are already seven minutes in. Please can we come to a conclusion, and if we need to discuss the matter further, perhaps we can reallocate this item to a future agenda.” Similarly … “ There is clearly a considerable amount of feeling relating to this topic. Can I suggest that it is discussed further outside of this meeting and an outcome is presented later?” Chairing a meeting can be quite an onerous task because you are dealing with people, and that is never easy as they will all have their individual view on many matter
Exercise 4. Read the test again. Then read the ‘Chain-of-Information Diagram’. Compare the diagram with the original text and correct the mistakes made in the diagram – logical order, extra information, missed information. Chain-of-Information Diagram. 1. question: a secret for success 2. answer: a) think of your pleasant or annoying things b) be sure about the agenda c) your knowledge of participants d) your knowledge of the modern trends in business e) issues to be discussed 3. be a referee: watch and listen carefully 4. give everyone a chance to speak 5.be diplomatic with disagreements 6. stick to the time 7. never pay attention to shy people 8. be kind to people wandering off the subject 9. your aim – everyone feeling pleased to have a chance to speak 10. get decisions made and recorded 11. in dealing with difficult people show them your dissatisfaction 12. long meetings – have a break in the mid-point 13. be strict in your behavior and speech
Exercise 5. Read the article again. Replace the following phrases in the article with the correct expressions from parts A and B above.
Exercise 6. Match the verbs 1-7 with the nouns a)-g) that they go with.
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