Chairing the Board

PARAMJIT SHARMA
 MEETINGS

The Ideal Meeting is two ; with one absent

PARAMJIT SHARMA
90% of an effective
meeting is said to happen
before it takes place

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The Leader Should Be Leader Of the Leaders

PARAMJIT SHARMA
The leader Must

•Command respect
•Do their home work The Role Of the Leader
•Be Punctual
•Start on time The Responsibilities
•Ensure care of administrative matters
•Start on right note
•Introduce the people
•Set the rules
•Control Discussion
•Encourage contributions
•Ask questions……………contd

PARAMJIT SHARMA
 The Role Of the Leader
The leader Must
The Responsibilities

•Ensure everybody Participate

•Keep the discussion to the point
•Listen.. Listen & Listen
•Ensure decisions are made, agreed &
recorded
•Show patience& respect for present
•Cope with upsets, outbursts, and emotions
•Provide the final words
•Follow up

PARAMJIT SHARMA
QUALITIES OF A GOOD
CHAIRMAN
•Impartiality
•Knowledge of Procedures
•Confidence
•Enthusiasm
•Tact
•Efficiency
•Good Organizational Skills
•Sense Of Responsibility
•Ability To delegate
•Leadership
•Friendliness
•Sense Of Pride
•Readiness To Cooperate
PARAMJIT SHARMA
 CREATE
ESTABLISH
POSITIVE RIGHT AUTHORITY
Atmosphere

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START

GENERATE OBJECTIVES CONDUCT

INTEREST CLEAR BUSINESS LIKE

Well begun is half Done

PARAMJIT SHARMA
 HOW MUCH DISCUSSION

Too much Discussion, poorly controlled, Prompting

May produce… Discussion
•Too much Emotions
•Too many alternatives to be handled
•Frequent Understanding
•Opposing sides Emerging
•More time to conclude or
•No conclusion
•Digression into minor issues
•Lack of attention
•Circular arguments
•Drift into a lack of Realism

PARAMJIT SHARMA
PARAMJIT SHARMA
Restricted debate ,too tightly controlled,
May Produce

Boredom
Prompting
Undue attention to details Discussion
Repetition
Withholding key information
Overhasty decisions
Disorganized follow up
No real commitment to decisions
Decisions not supported later
Unbreakable disagreements
Low morale
Lack of enthusiasm
Fixation with past

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Good Meetings should be creat ive

They should… Encouraging

Creativity

•Stimulate thinking
•Generate new Ideas
•Find new way of Looking at things
•Instigate Change
•Solve Problems
•Consider Novel Solutions
PARAMJIT SHARMA
PARAMJIT SHARMA
HANDLING DISORDERS

What the chair should do

in such circumstances

Never get upset or emotion your self

Pick one point, isolate it and discuss

without heat

Agree …but show timing is important

PARAMJIT SHARMA
HANDLING DISORDERS

If Disorder continues. you have

few Options

Call for complete silence

Announce a short break
Leave the item causing
problem till later
Abandon the meeting till
another time( Worst Option )

ABOVE ALL DON’T PANIC

PARAMJIT SHARMA
KEEP AN EYE ON THE CLOCK

Watch the time and fine tune everything

With regard to the time remaining as the
Meeting proceeds-it is important for the
chair& participants

PARAMJIT SHARMA
PARAMJIT SHARMA
 CHAIRING A MEETING
Responsibilities of the Chairman
• Develop the Agenda

• Ensure appropriate preparation

• Prepare and circulate agenda
• Chair the meeting
• Evaluate the meeting
• Follow-up
PARAMJIT SHARMA
8 Key Skills for Chairing Meetings

Encouraging & Relevant views Clarifying and

Equalizing & Rephrasing
Participation Information to
be
Aired
Summarizing & Keeping board Keeping the
Testing for Members on Meeting on
Agreement Topic Schedule

Ensuring
Managing decisions
Conflicts Are made clearly
&
Explicitly
PARAMJIT SHARMA
 1Encourage Participation
• Create a warm and open atmosphere
• Respond positively
• Draw out views and encourage diverse opinion
• Challenge members to think innovatively
• Provide opportunities to all members
• View conflict as positive and manage
• Clarify and recap discussion to move forward
• Summarize decisions of the group

PARAMJIT SHARMA
The One Goal Approach

ONE -Establishing The Role Of Participants

•Offers -to make the meeting

•Needs - from the meetings

•End Result - expected at the end of the meeting

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GOA
•Get

•Others

•agreement

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1aTechniques to Equalize
Participation

• Direct approach to simply ask silent members

• Rounds – simple way of balancing

participation

• Observe the pace of proceedings

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 CONFLICT
MANAGEMENT

Accept Conflict as natural

Bring Hidden conflicts into open
Disagree with ideas not people
Sharing the Problem
Try to reach consensus
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Preparation for Meetings

? Questions
Why
Why Who
Who
What When
When
How Where
How Where

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Preparing effective
board meeting

Preparin Provide
g an backgroun
Agenda d
material

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Preparing an Agenda
 Review Past Minutes and consider
items

 Confer with Officials and Committee

Chairs

 Consult members about other agenda

items

 Allocate time to each item

 Ensure person responsible

PARAMJIT SHARMA attends
Good Agenda meets
4 requirements

Most items
All items should
Relate to the Should focus on
mandate Action or decision
of Board

Purpose of Realistic time

each Period for each
item should item
be
clear
PARAMJIT SHARMA
Provide background
material

 Board must establish what information it wants to

receive
from staff and committees

 Ensure sufficient relevant information to allow a

full
discussion

 Person responsible for each agenda normally

prepares
the background material

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Variations on the
consensus Style

• PURE CONSENSUS

4. GENERAL
CONSENSUS

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CHECKLIST FOR MEETING

 Book facility and equipment

 Prepare and distribute previous minutes

 Prepare and distribute copies of agenda and

other
documents

 Contact people on the Agenda

 Collect previous minutes and reports

 Obtain resource people, as necessary

PARAMJIT SHARMA
 FACILITY CHECKLIST

• Size and shape of meeting room

• Electrical outlets
• Microphones outlets
• Acoustics
• Washrooms
• Heat/Cold Regulator
• Ventilation
• Winter and bad weather access

PARAMJIT SHARMA
FACILITY CHECKLIST
 Parking facility arrangements
 Room set up arrangements
 Lighting
 Name of custodian & where to be reached
 Telephone access
 Wall Space
 Emotional Impact
 Accessibility to the disabled

PARAMJIT SHARMA
•Equipment & Supply Checklist

• Documents for meeting

• Tables
• Chairs
• Extension cords
• Flip chart
• Wastebasket
• Coffee, tea, juice
• Water pitchers, glasses
• Others : recorder, microphone, cassettes, film projector,
slide projector, directional signs, camera &film, name tags,
felt pens, large felt tip pens, scratch paper, pencils ,etc

PARAMJIT SHARMA
 After the meeting

• Collect unused materials

• return equipment
• clean up
• send thank you notes
• process the evaluations
• mail minutes & other follow up items
• check that members have followed up their
responsibilities
• send update to absent members
• plan next meeting

PARAMJIT SHARMA
10 Key ingredients of
successful meeting
Clarity of Mandate, Participation
purpose, protocol & etiquette Productivity & forward
issues & process movement

Flexibility & creative Quality discussions & Openness, listening &

thinking Decision making collaboration

Balance, inclusion & Shared responsibility Variety and a light

equality touch

Logistical Support

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Pulling your weight
in a meeting
Lining up to
Staying Alert Exercising due speak
diligence

Communicating Listening Asking questions

Thinking Making
presentations

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Virtual Meetings
Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Meetings

 General Tips for virtual meetings

 Building consensus by correspondence

 Building consensus by teleconference calls

 Building consensus by video conferences

 Building consensus by electronic meetings

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Contentious Meetings
as Opportunities
Identifying the causes of controversies

Identifying the costs of poorly managed Controversies

Identifying the benefits of well managed controversies

Reducing the occurrence of controversies

Detecting controversies at an early stage

Preventive and proactive planning

Issue management tools
Process management tools

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Trouble shooting guide

 Diagnosing meeting ailments

 Principles for curing meeting ailments
 Curing facilitation ailments
 Curing agenda ailments
 Curing time management ailments
 Curing commitment level ailments
 Curing protocol and etiquette ailments
 Curing discussion quality ailments
 Curing logistics ailments
 Benefiting from incurable meeting
ailments

PARAMJIT SHARMA
QUALITIES OF A GOOD
CHAIRMAN
•Impartiality
•Knowledge of Procedures
•Confidence
•Enthusiasm
•Tact
•Efficiency
•Good Organizational Skills
•Sense Of Responsibility
•Ability To delegate
•Leadership
•Friendliness
•Sense Of Pride
•Readiness To Cooperate

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Factors affecting people’s ability to
contribute to meetings

NEED FOR RECOGNITION

NEED FOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

NEED FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION

NEED FOR ACCOMPLISHMENT

PARAMJIT SHARMA
Decision Making Style

SHOULD
Draw on the expertise of all
members
Make clear well thought out
decisions
Formally record decisions for
future reference

Communicate the decisions to the

Appropriate parties
PARAMJIT SHARMA
Basic Steps in decision-making

 Recognize and define the problem

 Examine the problem
 Make the decision
- Avoiding or abdicating a decision
- Decision by majority rule
- Consensus building

 Implement the decision

 Evaluate the decision

PARAMJIT SHARMA
CHAIRING A MEETING
FOCUS ON THE TASK
• Understand Org’s Issues
• Ambitiously advance agenda
• Cut off Discussion
• Start and end meeting at
appointed times
PARAMJIT SHARMA
FOCUS ON THE PEOPLE
• Trust that the board understand
the issues
• Sensitively respond to each
person
• Encourage people to share
perspectives
• Obtain board members’
expectations reg. time priorities
 Consultative
Informative/Advisory
•Resolving
Meeting Types
•Passing Information objections
•Coord Activities •Change Mgt
•Record Progress •New Actions
•induction

Problem-Solving Decision-Taking •Negotiating

•Creating Ideas •Generate

•Identifying Commitment •Creating Agreement
Alternatives •Share Resp. •Finding solution
•Initiating Action •Initiating Action •Compromising

PARAMJIT SHARMA