Every meeting chair wants their meeting attendees to turn up on time, be attentive, and participate. Assigning specific roles to people is a good way to accomplish all of these things. Before your next meeting consider assigning the following key roles:
- A facilitator to help the group to deliver the outcomes of the meeting. For example if the meeting has been called to solve a problem the facilitator can guide the attendees through the process of problem solving, generating ideas, gaining consensus and making decisions. They are also there to ensure that no one person dominates the discussions or takes the meeting off track
- A meeting scribe to record key points, ideas, decisions and actions. To capture the dynamics of a meeting it is useful to have the scribe recording these things visibly on a whiteboard or flipchart as this will remind the group what has been covered, achieved etc.
- An expert to share knowledge on particular issues as needed. If they are only needed for a specific agenda item then they can attend just part of the meeting.
- A contributor to challenge, offer ideas and help the discussions keep on track. Explain to them that you need them to speak up and to help you ensure that all the key points/issues are addressed.
- An observer to capture what happened in the meeting and provide feedback to the group at the end of it about how the meeting went and what could be improved.
To improve your Chairing Meeting Skills further consider our Chairing Meetings Effectively Course or talk to us about our 1 to 1 tailored approach to developing these skills.