Meetings are an integral part of every work sector, from the corporate world to charities, local government to education. In fact, iBabs’ recent survey on meeting practices found that a fifth of respondents (22%) spent more than half their working week in meetings. Of course, the longer you sit in meetings, the less time you have to implement the decisions you make and to carry out your other tasks.
In the academic world, faculty members balance their student-facing roles with research and, often, commitments to the various committees that drive governance within the university or college. These various obligations make staff time-poor and demonstrate the importance of ensuring committee meetings run smoothly and efficiently, making the best possible decisions in the interests of the educational establishment.
The most essential role in ensuring meetings are productive and run to time is that of the committee chair. This article provides tips on how to chair a committee meeting with confidence, authority and impact.
Key takeaways
- Committee chairs play a crucial role in successful meetings
- Your job is to facilitate productive discussion within the room and help members make key decisions
- Effective communication and listening skills are essential for ensuring the meeting hears from all voices and points of view
- Ensure effective governance by keeping to time, moving to votes when needed and understanding the framework of an effective committee meeting
- Continual improvement is the key to helping you chair meetings that make the right decisions for the educational establishment.
How to chair a committee meeting
Step 1: Prepare for the meeting
Before you chair an academic committee meeting, you need to look into what the role of a committee chair involves. Here are the aspects of the job that are most important to understand:
- Setting the meeting agenda and ensuring it covers the key topics
- Opening and closing the meeting in a timely manner
- Facilitating discussions on the items of business, making sure the meeting hears all voices in the room
- Maintaining order and focus within the meeting
- Encouraging respectful discussion, managing conflicts diplomatically
- Summarising the key talking points and decisions clearly through the meeting
- Ensuring the administrator records the decisions and assigns the actions
- Follow up after the meeting if necessary to monitor action points and next steps.
It is important to understand the statutes of the committee to understand how it makes decisions, including whether there is a need for a quorum and how it carries out voting. There might also be some terms of reference that you do not understand initially. Many committees run meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order, so it might be helpful to read through a guide to RONR, as it is known, to familiarise yourself with different types of motions and voting requirements, for example.
Collaborate with the committee secretary to develop a committee meeting agenda that features the most important matters and sets time limits for discussions and voting so that you can cover the pressing motions without overrunning. Ensure that you distribute the agenda and any supporting documents that committee members need for pre-meeting research in good time.
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Step 2: Meeting housekeeping
The start of the meeting is the time to establish your authority and set the tone for the meeting to come. Start the meeting on time and use the opening to set out the housekeeping rules for a productive and harmonious meeting. This includes:
| Task | Explanation |
| Welcome | Greet attendees in a warm manner, introducing any new members or guests. |
| Attendance | Take a roll call to confirm who is in attendance and record apologies for absences. |
| Purpose | Remind attendees of the purpose of the meeting and its objectives. |
| Review agenda | Invite any suggestions for urgent additional agenda items. |
| Timekeeping | Set out expectations on timekeeping and encourage participants to keep their contributions concise. |
| Ground rules | Inform attendees about how to request the right to speak and the guidelines for respectful discussion, also highlighting how votes will take place. |
| Conflicts of interest | Request any meeting member with a conflict of interest relating to an agenda item raise this and explain to them the process for mitigating this conflict, such as requiring them to recuse themself from the discussion. |
| Confidentiality | Highlight any confidentiality requirements relating to the topics you will discuss during the meeting. |
| Approve minutes | Have members approve the minutes of the previous committee meeting. Send them out in advance of the meeting to give participants the opportunity to raise any issues before the next meeting, saving time to allow for more discussion of new business. |
Step 3: Review reports and ongoing work
Different committees contribute a range of different types of advice and information to the main council, helping to guide the educational establishment in areas such as risk, investment, health and safety and compliance. This makes the ongoing work of each committee important and your meetings are the environment in which you should review progress and canvas for expert opinions.
At your committee meeting, start by reviewing the progress of your current reports, gaining updates on any obstacles and issues and providing a status report. Open them up to the floor and encourage all members to participate in the discussion about how to overcome challenges, what to include and not include in the final report and the next steps committee members need to take to advance each report.
Manage disagreements in a calm and professional manner, allowing both parties to have their say uninterrupted and summing up the arguments for the benefit of the other participants.
Step 4: Address old and new business
When you move onto the main meeting motions, start by covering old business that you either didn’t get round to previously or which was not resolved at another meeting. Use active listening to ensure the discussions stay on topic and don’t deviate. Step in if necessary to keep the conversation respectful and be alert to who has not contributed, bringing them into the debate by asking for their point of view.
You want the discussion to be as full and frank as possible, but you also need to stick to time and take it to a vote. Listen to understand when the conversation reaches a natural conclusion and there are no more points to add, calling a vote. Understand how to call the vote and lead the attendees into the voting process.
Step 5: Closing the meeting
Follow the steps for closing a meeting as a chairperson. This includes:
- Finishing the last item in the order of business
- Asking if there is any other business
- If yes, choosing whether it needs to be discussed now or if it can wait until the next meeting
- Making closing remarks, summing up the decisions made, reiterating actions to be carried out and highlighting when the next meeting will be
- Bringing the meeting to a formal close, using language such as: “I declare the meeting adjourned,” “I move to adjourn the meeting and, hearing no objection, I declare the meeting adjourned” or “The meeting is adjourned at [TIME].”
How to enhance your chairing skills
- Take the opportunity to undertake professional development sessions led by governance experts. These will help you access insights on best practice and expert advice that will help you improve your skills.
- Seek feedback from committee members after each meeting. Encourage them to tell you what worked well and which areas require improvement. From their suggestions you can hone your approach to chairing meetings in a way that works for your committee.
- Ask your peers for help. The educational establishment will have other committees so arrange to meet up with other chairs and discuss ways in which you can help each other improve performance for more productive meetings.
- Analyse your own performance and consider elements such as whether you managed the timings effectively, how far through the agenda you made it and whether you stayed on the right side of the line between leading the meeting and dominating proceedings. Be honest with yourself and use this to improve the next time you chair a meeting.
FAQs
How can I handle a meeting that runs over time?
Prioritise essential agenda items, set strict time limits for discussions and consider rescheduling unfinished business for a follow-up meeting if necessary.
What are best practices for chairing remote meetings?
Ensure clear communication, establish ground rules upfront, actively engage participants, use reliable technology and keep a close eye on time management.
How do I ensure transparency without losing control?
Maintain open communication by clearly explaining decisions and processes while setting firm guidelines on participation and managing discussions professionally.
What tools can help with agenda management and follow-up?
A meeting platform like iBabs helps teams create agendas using templates that save time and ensure consistency. You can add documents to the motions to help with preparation and distribute it to all participants directly in the app. The board portal also tracks progress towards action items.
What are the Nolan Principles?
The Nolan Principles are also referred to as the Seven Principles of Public Life and apply to anyone working in the public sector and holding office. This includes the education sector and effective committee chairs adhere to these principles, which are: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
Conclusion
This page explains how to chair a committee meeting and provides the steps you need to take to achieve an efficient and effective meeting process. The chair should be involved from the preparation stage to ensure the agenda is comprehensive, but also realistic. Planning your timings is important, as is guiding the discussion towards a vote at the correct time. The chair must lead but not dominate the meeting, ensuring attendees hear from all points of view to help them make the best decisions.
iBabs is a meeting platform and board portal that helps you work through the entire meeting ecosystem in a time-saving and secure manner. From creating and distributing agendas to recording votes and designating and tracking action items, iBabs gives you an overview of the success of your meetings, making your job much easier. Request a demo today.
