Q

In our organization, for our regular meetings we rotate the position of chairperson on a regular basis. It’s a good idea: it gives us all experience in the job. My turn to chair the meeting comes around every couple of months, but I seem to have trouble… Invariably I find that the meetings I chair end up being long and drawn out. Do you have any ideas on how I can remedy the situation?

A

Try these practical ideas for starters:

• Tackle less. As chairperson, by limiting the number of tasks you ask your meeting to accomplish, you have a better chance of maintaining your focus through the meeting. The more you try to tackle, the more likely your meeting will get into a muddle.
• Whenever possible, use ‘sectional’ rather than ‘whole-staff’ meetings. Restrict attendance to only those involved with the matters under discussion.
• Make your meetings ‘problem-centered’ rather than ‘routinized’. That way the meetings will have a focus, rather than having to deal with a wide range of issues.
• Use working groups to tease out issues and gather information – before reporting to the meeting.
• Always issue agendas and insist that homework be done.
• At the beginning of your next meeting, appoint one of the participants to be a ‘progress-checker’. Every 15 minutes, this person should interrupt the meeting for a progress check. Is the agenda being adhered to? Are people working towards the set goals? Are they spinning their wheels? What has been accomplished so far? What still needs to be accomplished? Rotate the position of progress-checker for every meeting, so that every participant learns the importance of keeping a meeting on track.

You might also like to consult our e-Topics –

How to conduct a successful meeting

How to get the most out of meetings you chair

How to overcome problems at meetings

Or our e-Book

Meetings