The Meeting

By the end of this section, you will understand the various factors involved in chairing a meeting, including why you must make yourself aware of any organisational requirements and the best ways to encourage participation and discussion.

The Role of the Chairperson

The chairperson of a meeting is there to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly, a task that requires a balance of preparation and orchestration. The chairperson organises and, to an extent, controls the meeting.

Following greeting and other initial housekeeping points, the chair should open the meeting by reminding the participants why the meeting has been called. This is done by clearly outlining the purpose of the meeting.

It is then, generally, the chairperson’s responsibility to ensure that the meeting continues to flow and that everyone has a chance to be involved. You may find that certain participants begin to dominate discussions, in which case the chair also must bring this to a halt to ensure all attendees have the opportunity to speak.

Such circumstances will be easily avoided in certain formal meeting cases that, by law, or organisational policy, require the participants to address only the chair. However, this is not always the case, and requirements will differ between organisations.

Strategies for maintaining a steady flow of proceedings include:

• Indicate whether progress is being made.
• Conclude any labouring points and lead into the next topic.
• Refocus group attention on the topic at hand.
• Know your team and how to break down their communication barriers.
• Highlight essential points and be mindful of systematically working through your key points.

Take note of how the chairperson promotes team discussion and participation. He can assist with problem-solving and time management and interacts with the minute-taker to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly and on time.

Chairing a Meeting

Watch the meeting in this YouTube video by Elena Adamova and take note of how the chairperson manages the discussion: ²

The Chairperson in Virtual Meetings

Virtual meetings are becoming increasingly necessary and common in the modern workplace. The challenge here is not to instinctively do away with preparation or formalities because you are conducting matters from your own house.

It is still important to follow the procedures before and during in-person meetings, such as preparing the agenda, providing relevant papers before the meeting and chairing the meeting by the appropriate process.

When chairing a remote meeting, you should do the following:

1. As with an in-person meeting, ensure that the agenda and any other documentation have been distributed with due time for the participants to view.
2. Refer to your organisation’s policy on virtual meetings to ensure that any specific stipulated procedures are met.
3. Ensure that each participant has access to the required equipment and software and that everyone’s software is up to date.
4. Complete a roll call at the start of the meeting to help break the ice and call attention to any participants who have not been able to access their video function or feed.
5. Ask participants to mute their microphones when they are not speaking.
6. As with an in-person meeting, summarise the key points after the meeting and ensure that the minutes are promptly sent out.

Organising and Chairing Virtual Meetings – OneLearning

Watch this YouTube video from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for tips on how to effectively chair a virtual meeting: ³

Most organisations have their own sets of requirements and policies for handling meetings. We will consider standard requirements you may need to be aware of when chairing your meetings.

Responsibilities of the Chairperson 

You must be aware of your organisation’s requirements and policies when chairing a meeting.

This becomes imperative when chairing more formal meetings. However, the requirements of your organisation may be applicable regardless of the level of formality of the meeting, so you must be familiar with them.

Some organisational meeting requirements to consider include:

National Reconciliation Week Acknowledgement of Country

Watch this YouTube video by EVOLVE Indigenous Cultural Awareness to learn how to incorporate acknowledgement of country into your organisation’s meetings. ⁴

It is important to use strategies for uplifting and maintaining positive group dynamics throughout your meeting.

Managing Personalities

When chairing a meeting, you are responsible for managing the personalities and dynamics within the group. 

If these are not managed well, the meeting may veer off course and become inefficient and unproductive.

To chair a successful and efficient meeting, the chair should:

• do their homework and prepare before the meeting
• solicit input on the meeting topics before the event
• have the confidence of all the participants
• ensure that a diverse range of participants lead discussions and topics
• keep everyone actively involved
• be proficient in setting and maintaining a good pace.

Managing Disagreements

While it is acceptable for participants to disagree, professional and respectful behaviour is expected and must be maintained during meetings.

Any disagreements or criticisms should target or centre around the topics only and not amount to personal attacks aimed at other participants.

Although disagreements are normal, the chair mustn’t take sides. Instead, they should provide clarification by asking open questions and remembering to keep to the facts.

Monitoring Participation 

As chair of the meeting, you should monitor the participation of each group member to ensure that everybody is involved in the discussion and decision-making.

Some people are naturally quieter or anxious in a group setting. However, they may still have valuable information and opinions to contribute, provided they receive encouragement and an opening.

Facilitation Skills Training: Managing Difficult Meeting Personalities | Facilitator Dana Brownlee 

Watch the first 3:45 minutes of this YouTube video from Dana Brownlee to learn about how different personalities can be managed in your meetings, including a dominant personality: ⁵

Problem-solving

Problems can be more easily resolved when an orderly process is followed. A structured, such as the following seven-step problem-solving process, provides a framework for identifying and analysing problems, coming up with solutions and then implementing them:

1. Identify the problem

   To solve a problem, you need to truly understand what it is. This step identifies and names the problem as concretely and specifically as possible. Ensure you deal with the real problem and not its symptoms.

2. Establish the desired outcome

   Create a goal statement that includes the what, when, where, why, who and how of the ideal problem-solved situation. Goals provide vision and direction and help determine a course of action. If the team can visualise the goal, it can identify with the benefits of achieving a solution.

3. Analyse the problem

   This helps to measure the extent of the problem. Look at the problem from a variety of perspectives and determine its root cause. As in Step 1, if you commit yourself too early, you may end up with a problem statement that's really a symptom instead.

4. Look at alternatives

   Brainstorm as many ideas as possible to build a list of possibilities. It doesn’t matter whether they’re useful, practical or manageable—just write them down as they come. Some of the best solutions arise from creative thinking during brainstorming. The more possible solutions you generate, the more likely you’ll discover an effective one.

5. Evaluate and select a possible solution

   From the list of possible solutions decide which is most relevant to your situation and best solves the problem. The team must reach consensus on the best possible strategy to solve the problem and this strategy should have the highest likelihood of success.

6. Implement the decision

   Once you have identified a possible solution, an Action Plan is developed by the team. This includes the ‘what, when, where, why, who and how’ to implement the solution. The team makes sure the developed Action Plan is carried out and documented.

7. Monitor and evaluate

   This step involves monitoring and evaluating if the solution is working out as expected — have the desired outcome been met? If the process did not improve, or the process improves but the results are disappointing, go through the cycle again (particularly Step 2 when you are considering the root causes). Set up an on-going process to ensure that the gains stay in place and the problem doesn’t resurface. Commit to continuous improvement — can the solution be made even better? Encourage everyone involved to provide constructive feedback and adjustments.

Five whys 

Many people reach the probable cause of a problem and then attempt to resolve it. This minimises the problem’s effects but doesn’t resolve it. 

You can use the Five Whys technique to identify the root cause of a problem by asking “why” five times in succession. 

The answer to one “why” question leads you to ask the next one. You may need to gather and analyse more information to answer it properly or do more thinking and brainstorming. When you reach the fourth or fifth “why,” you are looking at the actual root cause instead of symptoms.⁷

• Too few Why's:
  • Unable to get to the root cause.
• Too many Why's:
  • Answers become silly or unworkable

Use the following questions to check your knowledge.