Making good meetings: Conducting the meeting
Par Family Councils Ontario
Now that we’ve covered tips on preparing for a Council meeting, let’s discuss ways to make the most of your meetings themselves.
Stick to the agenda
Having crafted a clear agenda, it’s essential to use it to conduct the meeting. Good meetings respect the needs of the group and members’ time by sticking to the agenda.
Tips for sticking to the agenda:
- Review and make a motion to pass the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Ask if anyone has any additions to the agenda that they wish to propose and, if necessary, amend the agenda as per your Council’s process for doing so. This helps to keep the meeting on track as it provides a clear outline for how the meeting will proceed.
- Use a parking lot to keep discussions on track. Any thoughts or ideas that do not pertain to the discussion at hand can be added to the parking lot for future consideration. This helps members understand that while their comments won’t be discussed at this time, they are not being ignored.
- Assign a time-keeper. It can be challenging to keep track of time while also facilitating a discussion, so consider assigning the role of time keeper to an attendee. This person will keep an eye on the clock and announce when it is nearly time to move on to the next agenda item so that the meeting chair or facilitator can wrap up the discussion, or attendees can make a deliberate decision to extend the discussion.
Manage complaints
Council meetings should be a safe space for family members to voice their concerns and challenges. However, when members get caught up in discussing complaints, that can derail the meeting. To reduce the likelihood of a meeting getting derailed by complaints, consider:
- Allotting a specific amount of time at the beginning or end of each meeting for open sharing. During this time, concerns raised are not recorded for the meeting minutes nor are they to be acted upon. Ensure that members understand the purpose of this time and how to bring forward complaints for consideration as new Council business.
- The role of the Council chair or meeting volunteer in facilitating complaint discussions. It is important for the Chair or meeting volunteer to have strong facilitation skills so they can support the process of complaint discussions in a way that helps achieve the meeting goals.
Make good decisions
Ideally, your discussions will lead to some sort of outcome, whether that’s a decision to submit a Council concern form, a vote to pursue an activity, a resolution to carry out a task, etc… Whatever that outcome, here are a few suggestions ways to ensure success.
- Record decisions and action items are they are finalized.
- Record who is responsible for completing action items.
- Get agreement as per your decision making process.
- Follow up after the meeting with details of the action plan and next steps.
Set ground rules
Ground rules help to keep meetings on track by telling attendees which behaviours are acceptable. They also support the meeting Chair or facilitator in addressing difficult behaviours that may arise during a meeting.
Here are a few ideas for ground rules to help support a good meeting:
- Respect and follow the agenda
- Stay on track, don’t let your thoughts wander
- Listen with an open mind
- Arrive on time and be prepared
- Focus on and contribute to meeting goals
- Let everyone participate
- Challenge ideas, not people
Next week, we’ll be exploring other factors that will help you make the most of your meetings.
Make sure to register for our Making Good Meetings webinar on Tuesday January 30th! We’ll be covering meeting preparation, facilitation, and more!