Institute of Leadership & Management
superseries Effective Meetings for Managers FIFTH EDITION Published for the Institute of Leadership & Management
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Pergamon Flexible Learning is an imprint of Elsevier
Pergamon Flexible Learning is an imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA First edition 1986 Second edition 1991 Third edition 1997 Fourth edition 2003 Fifth edition 2007 Copyright © 1986, 1991, 1997, 2003, 2007 ILM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Editor: David Pardey Based on material in previous editions of this work The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Leadership & Management or of the publisher No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone (44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (44) (0) 1865 853333; email: permissions@ elsevier.com. Alternatively you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier website at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-08-046439-8 For information on all Pergamon Flexible Learning publications visit our website at http://books.elsevier.com
Institute of Leadership & Management Registered Office 1 Giltspur Street London EC1A 9DD Telephone: 020 7294 2470 www.i-l-m.com ILM is part of the City & Guilds Group Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India www.charontec.com Printed and bound in Great Britain 07 08 09 10 11
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Contents
Series preface Unit specification
v vii
Workbook introduction
ix
1 2 3
ILM Super Series study links Links to ILM qualifications Workbook objectives
ix ix ix
Session A Group meetings 1 2 3 4 5 6
1
Introduction Different types of meetings Preparing for meetings Taking part in a meeting Following up on meetings Summary
1 2 9 16 20 24
Session B Taking notes 1 2 3 4 5
25
Introduction The purpose of notes Listening for a purpose Practical techniques of note taking Summary
25 25 32 33 38
iii
Contents
Performance checks 1 2
Quick quiz Workbook assessment
Reflect and review 1 2 3 4 5 6
iv
Reflect and review Action plan Extensions Answers to self-assessment questions Answers to the quick quiz Certificate
39 39 41
43 43 45 47 48 49 50
Series preface
Whether you are a tutor/trainer or studying management development to further your career, Super Series provides an exciting and flexible resource to help you to achieve your goals. The fifth edition is completely new and up-to-date, and has been structured to perfectly match the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM)’s new unit-based qualifications for first line managers. It also harmonizes with the 2004 national occupational standards in management and leadership, providing an invaluable resource for S/NVQs at Level 3 in Management. Super Series is equally valuable for anyone tutoring or studying any management programmes at this level, whether leading to a qualification or not. Individual workbooks also support short programmes, which may be recognized by ILM as Endorsed or Development Awards, or provide the ideal way to undertake CPD activities. For learners, coping with all the pressures of today’s world, Super Series offers you the flexibility to study at your own pace to fit around your professional and other commitments. You don’t need a PC or to attend classes at a specific time – choose when and where to study to suit yourself! And you will always have the complete workbook as a quick reference just when you need it. For tutors/trainers, Super Series provides an invaluable guide to what needs to be covered, and in what depth. It also allows learners who miss occasional sessions to ‘catch up’ by dipping into the series. Super Series provides unrivalled support for all those involved in first line management and supervision.
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Unit specification
Title:
Effective meetings for managers
Level:
3
Credit value:
1
Unit Ref:
M3.33
Learning outcomes
Assessment criteria
The learner will
The learner can (in an organization with which the learner is familiar)
1. Know how to manage a meeting
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
Explain the purpose of meetings Describe how to prepare prior to a meeting Explain the roles and responsibilities of the chairperson, the secretary and individuals at a meeting Explain basic meeting protocol and procedures Take basic notes at a meeting Use an action plan to follow up after a meeting Describe how you could improve your effectiveness at meetings
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Workbook introduction
1 ILM Super Series study links This workbook addresses the issues of Effective Meetings for Managers. Should you wish to extend your study to other Super Series workbooks covering related or different subject areas, you will find a comprehensive list at the back of this book.
2 Links to ILM qualifications This workbook relates to the learning outcomes of Unit M3.33 Effective meetings for managers from the ILM Level 3 Award, Certificate and Diploma in First Line Management.
3 Workbook objectives As a first line manager you can be involved in a huge variety of meetings in the course of a typical week. They may, for example, be with your team, your manager, colleagues, customers and suppliers; they may be informal or formal, one-to-one or in a group. Whatever the nature of the meeting, there are a number of basic steps you should take to prepare for different types of
ix
Workbook introduction meeting, whether they be one-to-one progress, counselling or disciplinary interviews, or decision-making meetings of over ten people. Of course, good preparation is essential to the success of a meeting but it is not enough on its own. You also need to know how to make an effective contribution in whatever role you find yourself in, be it the giver or receiver of feedback in a one-to-one meeting, or the chairperson or participant in a staff meeting. You also need to be able to take appropriate and accurate notes of meetings, and plan what actions you need to take as a result of the meeting. Throughout the workbook we will be considering the range of skills on which effective contributions to different types of meeting are based.
3.1 Objectives When you have completed this workbook you will be better able to: ■ ■ ■
x
organize and run meetings to achieve their objectives; make effective contributions to meetings. take notes and plan action as a result of the meeting.
Session A Group meetings
1 Introduction There’s an old joke that meetings are an alternative to work. Do you agree?
Meetings of more than two people can be a pleasure, a necessity, a chore, a nuisance or a test, depending on the circumstances. They can seem like a waste of valuable time. They can be inconclusive and frustrating. They can also be badly organized and poorly chaired. Most managers dislike at least some of the meetings they go to. Many less experienced managers loathe them all. ‘Not another stupid meeting!’ groaned Anil. ‘Why can’t we get on with something useful instead of talking about it all the time!’ Anil’s line manager put him straight. ‘Look, I know you’re keen and want to do practical things, but you’re moving into management now. Your job is to organize, lead and motivate people who do the work, not to do the work yourself.’ ‘Meetings are a big part of every manager’s life and in this company we don’t hold meetings for the fun of it. They’ve always got a practical purpose’.
Meetings are indeed a fact of life: the point is to learn to make them work, both as a participant and when chairing them.
1
Session A
2 Different types of meetings As in the case of one-to-one meetings, meetings of more than two people may be formal or informal. Informal meetings take place all the time. The essential basic rules are: ■ ■ ■
listen carefully to what the other people have to say; make your messages clear and simple; if anything important is said, make a note of it immediately afterwards.
2.1 Formal meetings If you work for a very small organization, formal meetings may be few and far between, although there is bound to be the occasional meeting with suppliers, the bank, the local authority, and so on. In bigger organizations, there are many more meetings, and they play a much more important role.
Activity 1
4 mins
List the regular formal meetings in which you or your manager take part.
2
Session A You may have listed some of the following: ■ ■ ■ ‘Committee: a body of persons appointed or elected for some special business or purpose.’ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
■ ■ ■
monthly management meetings; production meetings; safety committee meetings; staff association committee meetings; training policy committee meetings; quality circle meetings. These are all regular meetings, scheduled in advance. There will also be various unscheduled one-off meetings to respond to problems and make decisions about issues of various kinds.
Activity 2
3 mins
Here are some suggestions as to why larger organizations have so many more meetings. Tick any that you think might apply, and add any others that occur to you. ■ ■ ■ ■
❒ ❒
Larger organizations are naturally more bureaucratic. Larger organizations need formal channels of communication. Managers in large organizations see meetings as a way of developing their careers. Many people prefer attending meetings to doing real work.
❒ ❒
Other suggestions:
While larger organizations may be bureaucratic, and some managers may see meetings as a way of developing their careers, in general these are not the reasons for formal meetings. Nor do most organizations tolerate people who would rather attend meetings than do real work. Meetings are work, and often generate work for the people who attend them. The real reason for the larger number of meetings is the need for communication. In a small organization, everyone knows everyone else. Usually, everyone knows what is going on without needing any formal system of communication.
3
Session A In larger organizations it is different. People work at a variety of tasks in different departments and even in different locations. While there may be informal networks of contacts that cross these boundaries, they are usually quite limited. They also tend to foster gossip and rumour rather than the communication of information. So larger organizations – simply because they are large – can’t rely on informal ways of communicating with and between different groups of staff. They need to establish formal systems and structures. You may also have added some thoughts about management monitoring and control, because this is also more difficult to achieve in larger organizations, for the same reasons. So, depending on the size of your organizations, meetings – both regular and irregular – can be held for a large variety of purposes that include: ■ ■ ■
communicating information; management control; making decisions and solving problems.
2.2 Meetings for communicating information All meetings involve a good deal of information, but some meetings take place solely in order to: ■ ■ ■
give information (as when a manager calls a meeting of staff to announce a plan to move to new offices); gather information (as when a representative from each department is asked to report on developments); exchange information (as when staff association or union reps from different locations get together). Consultative meetings – where management wishes to get initial reactions to ideas or proposals – are quite common (as when a manager presents recommendations on how to improve processes or systems). Many of the examples above are of meetings held at senior management level. But as a first line manager you too will sometimes hold formal meetings with your staff in order to give, gather or exchange information.
4
Session A
Activity 3
8 mins
Think back to meetings you have held with all of your staff and identify any that you held in order to: ■ ■ ■
give information; gather information; exchange information. Answer the following three questions in each case.
1
What was the exact purpose of the meeting?
2
On what basis did you decide that a staff meeting, rather than any other form of communication, was the best way of achieving this purpose?
3
Was the purpose achieved? If the answer is ‘yes’, what is your evidence for this?
2.3 Meetings for management control One of the roles of management is to make sure the organization’s day-to-day operations deliver certain goals and objectives.
5
Session A On the one hand, managers create a plan which: ■ ■ ■
defines the operations required to meet the objectives; identifies the resources needed to carry out the operations; sets targets for all relevant activities. On the other hand, they design systems which compare what actually happens with the plan:
■ ■ ■
monitoring and measuring activities and use of resources; reviewing progress against targets; if necessary, modifying future operations in the light of this. This is known as a control cycle.
Implement modifications
Carry out activities
Make decisions on modification
Review information
Monitor activities
Collate information
As you can see, at the heart of the control cycle is the collection, collation and review of information. The review takes place in a meeting at which decisions are made about any necessary modifications to operations, as in the following example. Abraxis is a charity that helps children with physical disabilities. The management team meets monthly to review activities and budgets. A few days before the meeting, participants are sent two main documents. One summarizes the activities of various projects. The other summarizes revenue and costs and compares them with budgets. The meeting concentrates on dealing with areas where there is a significant deviation from the plans, targets and budgets, such as: ■ ■ ■
6
projects failing to achieve their targets; revenue shortfalls; excess costs.
Session A The meeting will discuss these points, and try to establish: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
whether the deviations really are significant; what the consequences will be if they are not corrected; what needs to be done to correct them; who will take responsibility for ensuring that it happens; how and when this will in turn be reviewed.
Activity 4
10 mins
Think of a review meeting you have held with your team whose purpose was to: ■ ■
discuss information gathered through the monitoring of activities; decide what modifications, if any, were necessary.
1
What information was discussed? Was it sufficient for you to be able to establish whether any activities needed to be modified?
2
What modifications were suggested by you and your team?
3
On what basis did you and your team make your suggestions?
4
What modifications were decided upon? What arrangements were made for ensuring they were implemented and reviewed?
7
Session A
2.4 Meetings to make decisions and solve problems You may remember that one stage of the control cycle was making a decision about what, if any, modifications should be made to activities. The need to make a decision is a common reason for holding a meeting, though not necessarily as part of the management control system. A meeting may be held, for example, to make a decision on how to tackle a particular issue or solve a particular problem. Usually, quite a lot of preparatory work has to be completed before you are in a position to make a decision. Suppose, for example, you discover that you are consistently exceeding your monthly budget, or the number of defects in the goods produced by your department, is going up. You will then have to gather more information to discover what the possible causes may be. What, exactly, is money being spent on? What type of defects are occurring and why? It’s only when you know the possible causes that you can begin to think about the possible solutions. Depending on the particular situation, you may want to do this in a meeting or wait until you, personally, have come up with some possible solutions and screened out the ones that are not really feasible.
Activity 5
15 mins
Think of a meeting you have held with your staff whose purpose was to make a decision about how to solve a particular problem.
8
■
What was the problem?
■
What information did you present to help you and the other participants suggest o r discuss viable solutions? Was the information accurate and sufficient? Were there any ways in which it could have been improved?
Session A ■
What decision did you and your staff make about how to solve the problem?
■
On the basis of what information was the decision made? What other information, if any, would you like to have had to help you make this decision?
3 Preparing for meetings Although many meetings are important, they can waste a lot of time better spent doing other things if they are not set up and run efficiently.
Activity 6
4 mins
Think back to some unproductive meetings you have attended and jot down six to eight words that describe what you felt went wrong.
Meetings can go wrong in many ways. For example, they may deal with trivial issues at some length, or fail to deal with a major issue adequately because the participants don’t have the necessary knowledge or skills. In his book The Law and the Profits, C. Northcote Parkinson describes a company board meeting in which the members spend hours wrangling about a proposal to spend £500 on a new lawnmower, while a
9
Session A major investment costing millions of pounds goes through in a matter of minutes. The explanation, says Parkinson, is that everyone present understands lawnmowers and has something sensible to say. Only one or two of those present understand the big investment proposal, and the rest don’t feel they have anything sensible to say at all.
Other meetings may seem irrelevant to your own work, be unfocused, be badly chaired, or be dominated by argument between warring factions. Meetings that are boring, go on too long, drift off into digressions, and fail to reach conclusions are also very irritating. So how can these problems be avoided? Part of the answer is, of course, careful preparation. Assuming you are organizing a meeting, whether it be just for the members of your team or for staff from a number of departments or organizations, you need to consider the following. ■ ■ ■ ■
Who should attend the meeting? When and where will the meeting be held? What information should participants receive in advance? What will be your role in the meeting? If you are not organizing the meeting, you need to think carefully about what your contribution might be and plan what you might say.
3.1 Organizing a meeting Before you even begin to start organizing a meeting, you might stop to consider whether it’s necessary at all! You may have no choice, as in the case of a regular committee, departmental or project team meeting. But if there is a choice, are you sure that a less time-consuming alternative, such as a series of phone calls or e-mails, or phone or video conferencing, wouldn’t be sufficient.
EXTENSIONS 1 AND 2 Further good advice on how to prepare for meetings, run them and contribute to them, is provided by Managing Meetings by Tim Hindle and The Meetings Pocketbook by Patrick Forsyth.
Once you’ve established that the meeting is necessary, it’s time to consider the following questions.
Who should attend? For some meetings, such as committee meetings, the participants are defined right from the start. But for others, you may need to draw up a list of criteria, such as the following. ■ ■ ■
10
Who will be affected by the outcome and so needs to be consulted? Who can supply any relevant information? Who can play a vital role in taking any follow-up action?
Session A Bear in mind that three or four participants is the best number if you want a decision to be made quickly. However, six to nine may lead to a more balanced decision, while ten or more will probably give a wide range of views.
When and where will the meeting be held? You need to consider not only when the meeting will take place, but also how long it will take. The ideal length of time for a meeting, if you want everyone to be attentive throughout, is only 45 minutes! Of course, in reality it’s often not practicable for it to be as brief as this. But ‘keep it as short as possible’ should be your motto.
Arranging the time of a meeting can be a major headache, particularly if it’s a one-off meeting rather that one of a series of meetings for which the dates are booked long in advance. People will have lots of other commitments and finding a date they can all agree on requires patience. One method is first to ask one or two potential participants for up to five dates and times when they are available and then to circulate a list of these to see if there’s one that everyone can agree with. The choice of venue may partly be determined by where everyone has to come from. But there will be other factors to take into account, such as what room offers the most suitable physical conditions, and the cost of the room if it has to be hired. Robin’s manager asked her to deputize for him at a meeting called by the IT department to explain and discuss the benefits of some new software. The meeting took place on a Friday afternoon. The weather was hot and the sun shone relentlessly through the windows of the stuffy training room where the meeting took place. Several people tried to open windows, but they were fixed tight by security bolts. It was impossible to concentrate on the speaker. After 15 minutes, Robin had to pinch herself to keep awake. From behind her she heard the gentle snores of the security manager.
Activity 7
4 mins
Poor arrangements mean poor results. Think back over meetings you have attended. List five aspects of the physical arrangements that could have been better.
11
Session A In meetings, most people spend most of the time listening – and this is something that most humans are not very good at. We generally find it harder to concentrate on someone else talking rather than on speaking ourselves. Anything that makes it more difficult to listen should be avoided. This includes any location that is: ■ ■ ■ ■
too hot; too noisy; too cramped; too uncomfortable. Another factor to take into account when selecting the venue is whether you can arrange the table and chairs appropriately. Some meetings, for example, may require a boardroom arrangement, where the chairperson sits at the head of a long rectangular table, and the other people sit along the remaining three sides. Other meetings will require a very different arrangement.
Activity 8
3 mins
What arrangement of tables and chairs do you think would be most suitable for the following.
■
A team meeting?
■
A meeting whose main purpose is to give information to a lot of people?
The layout in which the chairperson sits at one end of a long rectangular table does little to encourage everyone to make a contribution and feel that their opinion is valued as much as the next person’s. A square or round table, or simply a circle of chairs are far more suitable layouts for a team meeting.
12
Session A On the other hand, if you just want to give information to a lot of people, it’s usually best to have a ‘speaker-audience’ arrangement in which people sit in rows, with or without desks in front of them, and listen to the person or people sitting or standing at the front.
What information should participants receive in advance? Unless a meeting is called at the last moment, the participants should usually receive the following in advance. ■ ■
An agenda listing the main points that will be under discussion, plus some administrative details, such as location and timings. Any documents, such as reports and proposals, that are to be discussed at the meeting, which may include details of attendees. If you’re responsible for drawing up an agenda, it’s often a good idea to ask the participants if there are any items that they would like to have added. Once you’ve had their responses, put the items in a logical order, beginning with:
■ ■ ■
apologies for absence; minutes of the last meeting; matters arising. The second item in this list provides an opportunity to correct any mistakes in the minutes, which serve as a permanent record of what was said and agreed at the previous meeting. We will return to the subject of minutes later in this session. The third item – matters arising – gives participants a chance to bring the meeting up to date on matters discussed last time. Only significant new information should be welcome here. If you are not chairing the meeting, the agenda should be approved by the chair.
13
Session A
Activity 9
3 mins
Here is an agenda for the monthly meeting of a voluntary organization’s Development Group. Is there anything that you think it would be helpful to add to this agenda? Development Group Monthly Meeting 13 October 2003 3.30 in the Cavendish Centre AGENDA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Apologies for absence Minutes of the last meeting Matters arising Launch of Jubilee Fields Project Other possible projects Funding Any other business Date of the next meeting
You may have noticed that there’s nothing on this agenda about when the meeting is intended to finish – a piece of information that could be vital for some people! And assuming that there is a fixed finish time, it would be helpful to add a start time to each item. Otherwise you could spend so much time discussing, say, item 4 that you run out of time before you reach item 6. It’s also worth making it clear that ‘any other business’ is to be restricted to a limited amount of time. If people know there’s a major topic they want to raise, they should get it included in the meeting’s agenda. In drawing up an agenda, bear in mind that people need breaks in meetings at least every 90 minutes.
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It’s also helpful to make clear what the objective of each item is. For example, is item 4 just about sharing information, or is it about coming to a decision about what is to be done?
Session A What will your role be? Even if you are setting up a meeting, you may not be the best person to act as chair. In some situations it may be worth considering whether it would be better for you to stick to the role of contributor and get someone else, such as your manager, to be chairperson.
3.2 Preparing a contribution Assuming your main role in a meeting is as a contributor, among the things you need to do in advance are the following. ■ ■ ■
Study any documents (including minutes of the last meeting) that you’ve been sent in advance and get an explanation of anything you don’t understand. In situations where you are acting as the representative of your team or colleagues, ask for their opinions on items on the agenda. Think carefully about what you wish to say on each item and prepare brief notes (bear in mind that you should aim to make your contributions brief and effective). If you have been asked to make a formal presentation, you will need to consider what visual aids, and possibly handouts, you should prepare. For more on this, look at the workbooks Briefing and Presentation Skills and Development of Self and Others in this series.
Activity 10
3 mins
Is there anything else you think it might be helpful do in preparing your contributions to a meeting? Jot down one or two ideas.
In some situations it may not be enough just to study the documents that are sent to you; you may need to carry out your own research by, for example, consulting relevant publications or the records of your organization or department. It will also help to find out who else is going to attend the meeting and what their views on various items are likely to be. If they are very different from yours, you will need to consider what points you can make to counter what they might say.
15
Session A
4 Taking part in a meeting There are a number of guidelines to ensure you are effective in your role, whether you are the chairperson of a meeting or a contributor.
4.1 Chairing a meeting As a chairperson, it’s often worth finding out what you can about the participants in advance so that you can predict what their views and priorities are likely to be.
It is possible for a meeting to work without someone being in the chair, but an effective chairperson can make a huge difference to whether a meeting achieves its objectives. The chairperson’s chief responsibilities are ensuring that: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
everyone knows who all the other participants in the meeting are, either by introducing them or asking them to introduce themselves; if an agenda has been sent out with timings, these are modified wherever necessary to meet the requirements of the participants generally; the purpose and objectives of the meeting are clear; the agenda is followed, but not so rigidly that valuable discussion is cut off too soon; the meeting is not dominated by arguments between factions; no one participant is allowed to speak too long and dominate the meeting; everyone has the opportunity to contribute; participants keep to the point; if the purpose of the meeting is to make one or more decisions, these are made by general agreement and are clear to everyone; the meeting achieves its objectives within the allocated time. Clearly, being an effective chairperson requires many skills.
Activity 11
3 mins
Looking at the list of responsibilities above, what skills do you think an effective chairperson needs to have? Jot down two or three.
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Session A It’s hard to imagine someone being an effective chairperson unless they can be assertive. This doesn’t mean being authoritarian or bossy. Rather, it means being firm while at the same time showing respect for others and responding to, rather than ignoring, what they say. A good chairperson has to be able to listen carefully and read other people’s body language for signs that they are not happy with the way things are going. They also need to be aware of their own body language, taking particular care to avoid aggressive or bored gestures. Another valuable skill is being able to summarize what’s been said. Doing this at intervals throughout a meeting will help to get rid of any misunderstandings. It will also draw attention to what progress has, or hasn’t, been made, and bring a drifting discussion back to the point.
4.2 Contributing to a meeting Assuming you have done a good job in preparing yourself for a meeting, there are a number of skills you need to employ to make your contributions to the best possible effect. You’ll see that they include some of the skills required by the chairperson. You need the ability to: ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■
be assertive – say what you want to say, but don’t cut across other people or respond to what they have said in an aggressive manner; be calm and polite; listen carefully; read other people’s body language; adapt your own body language to give out the right signals – avoid gestures that signify aggression or boredom, or distracting mannerisms; make eye contact all around the room; speak clearly and to the point, using simple and straightforward language; ask questions that will get an informative reply. Assuming you have things that you really want to say on a particular topic, when is the best time to do so? Some people like to get in their contribution at the end of a discussion, while others prefer to wait to the end. Others like to speak as often as possible, no matter whether they really have anything useful to say. However, what is usually most effective is to:
■ ■ ■
make your first contribution fairly early on; listen to what others have to say; speak again when you have a thought-out response to make.
17
Session A
Activity 12
45 mins
Before, during and after the next meeting you attend, make notes in response to each of the following questions on how you think you performed. Then give yourself a rating on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 equals poor, 5 equals excellent) and note how you might improve your performance in the next meeting. If possible, ask a colleague who attends the same meeting to also rate your performance and make notes.
Comment on performance
Had you obviously thought about what you were going to say before speaking? Did you keep to the point?
Did you speak clearly enough for everyone to hear what you were saying? Did you use straightforward, jargon-free language? In expressing disagreement with another participant, were you calm and polite? Did you ask questions that got informative replies? Did your body language convey continuing interest in the discussion? Did you avoid distracting mannerisms?
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Rating on scale of 1–5
Areas for improvement
Session A
4.3 Taking notes In many meetings someone will be appointed to take minutes – that is, short notes on the meeting’s proceedings. This doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t take your own notes on any points that are of relevance to you. While the minute-taker should always aim to present an accurate account of what was discussed and agreed, he or she may make mistakes. And, of course, there will be many situations in which you will need to report back on a meeting – perhaps to your team or manager – or carry out agreed actions. There is more guidance on taking notes in the next session.
Minutes Minutes are intended to provide a permanent record of what was discussed and agreed at a meeting, but they should not be verbatim transcript of what was said. Instead they should state: ■ ■ EXTENSION 3 ■ Taking Minutes of ■ Meetings, by Joanna Gutmann, is a practical reference book that includes advice on taking notes and minutes.
who attended the meeting; topics discussed and the key points made by contributors; decisions taken, and the main arguments for and against them; what action, when and by whom, should follow. Minutes are supposed to be word-processed and distributed straight after a meeting. But this doesn’t always happen.
Activity 13
3 mins
Delays in typing up and distributing minutes can cause problems. Why do you think this might be?
People are usually expected to check that the minutes are an accurate record of the meeting. Even if they’ve taken their own notes, this can be difficult when a fair amount of time has elapsed since the meeting took place. A more serious problem is that if decisions have been taken and individuals asked to act on them, the actions may not be taken and the decisions implemented until later than intended.
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Session A
5 Following up on meetings It’s very easy to hold a meeting to discuss one or more issues, make decisions about what is to be done – and then not do enough to ensure that the various decisions are implemented. This may happen even when minutes are sent out listing what actions are to be undertaken and by whom. An action plan is often needed to ensure that decisions are implemented, as in this example. Graham worked as an assistant project manager on a construction site for a large sports centre, where a number of companies were subcontracted to carry out different parts of the job, from digging the foundations, constructing the walls and roofs, to installing ceilings, screens, handrails, and ducting for wires and pipes. When each team finished work on a particular section they were supposed to leave it clean and tidy for the next team. Unfortunately, this didn’t always happen in practice, and although the issue was raised at various project meetings attended by representatives of the sub-contractors, nothing much was ever done about it. Matters finally came to a head when it became clear that the project wasn’t going to be completed on time. When the senior site managers began to look at all the factors causing delays, it became apparent that one of them was the untidy state in which sections were left by some teams. At a meeting held to discuss ways of reducing the delays, Graham was assigned the job of establishing a system to deal with this particular problem. He was told that he must consider this a priority, and have some proposals ready for discussion at a meeting the following week. Graham had recently heard about another construction site where a vigorous system of auditing had been introduced to good effect. At the other site, the leader of each team was given copies of an audit form containing over 40 questions about the state of the section he or she was working in. The team leader had to fill in the form at least twice a week and hand it in to the relevant assistant project manager. The team was expected to put right anything that they could – such as the piles of spare materials left lying around on the floor, or rubbish generally littering the floor. Any clearing up that required the involvement of more than one team, such as a serious leak leading to puddles of water on the floor, had to be organized by the assistant project manager. When the team was ready to move on to another section, it had to carry out a final audit, called the ‘handover audit’, and ensure that everything was as it should be.
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Session A Graham decided that this was the way to proceed on his site, and prepared a short presentation for the next management meeting. His proposals got the go-ahead with the proviso that he prepare an action plan to discuss with his manager in three days time. If his manager approved, he was to begin implementation with the aim of having some obvious results in a month’s time. At the end of this process, Graham produced this action plan.
ACTION PLAN Objective: To establish system for ensuring that all teams hand over sections fully fit to work in. Completion date: 30 August Actions
Staff required
Other resources required
Start date
End date
Write questions for audit form
Graham
5/8
10/8
Produce audit forms
Graham and one admin assistant
12/8
14/8
Organize meeting for team leaders to introduce them to forms
Graham and one admin assistant
12/8
14/8
Run meeting for team leaders
Graham and team leaders
15/8
15/8
Do practice audits with team leaders
Graham and team leaders
15/8
16/8
Team leaders complete two audits and hand in forms
Team leaders and assistant project managers
19/8
23/8
First handover audits carried out
Team leaders
26/8
30/8
Sections checked after first handover audits carried out
Assistant project managers and Graham
26/8
30/8
Activity 14
3 mins
In Graham’s action plan, the column headed ‘Other resources required’ has not been filled in. What other resources do you think each action requires? Make a note of them in the appropriate empty boxes.
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Session A In fact, not many additional resources are required at all. In order to produce the audit form, Graham will need access to a word processor and printer, plus plenty of paper. For the meeting he will need a suitable room and perhaps some audio-visual aids so that he can make a presentation. For other actions, plenty of audit forms will be needed. But the main resource is people, and their willingness or, in the case of Graham, determination, to implement the plan. If he succeeds, the time spent in meetings before and during implementation will be time well spent.
Self-assessment 1
15 mins
1
What are three of the main purposes of group meetings in organizations?
2
In preparing for a meeting you need to consider: ■ ■ ■
who should attend; when and where it will be held; what your role will be.
What else do you need to consider?
3
The following are items for a typical agenda, but in the wrong order. Indicate what the right order is by putting a number against each item. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Minutes of the last meeting Introductions Apologies for absence Project to streamline distribution process: review of progress Deviations from plan: discussion of what is to be done about them Date of next meeting Decisions on what’s to be done and by whom Any other business
Session A 4
Fill each of the gaps in the list of your responsibilities as a meeting’s chairperson with a suitable word from the following list. (One word is used more than once.) DECISION AGENDA
5
PARTICIPANTS POINT
TIMINGS
DECISION
OPPORTUNITY
■
Introducing _____________ or asking them to introduce themselves.
■
Discussing any _____________ on an agenda.
■
Ensuring that the _____________ is followed without cutting off valuable discussion.
■
Preventing any _____________ from speaking too long.
■
Ensuring that everyone has the _____________ to contribute.
■
Ensuring that participants keep to the _____________.
■
Ensuring that any _____________ is made by general agreement.
Decide which of the following statements are not correct and explain why. Being an effective contributor to a meeting means: a being prepared to cut across people when necessary; b speaking clearly and to the point; c avoiding jargon; d asking closed questions; e adapting your body language to give the right signals; f listening carefully.
6
How does an action plan help to ensure that decisions made at meetings are implemented?
Answers to these questions are on page 48.
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Session A
6 Summary ■
Meetings of more than two people are held in organizations for a variety of reasons, of which the most important are to: ■ ■ ■
communicate information; contribute to management control; make decisions and solve problems.
■
At management control meetings, information collected during monitoring is reviewed, and decisions are made about any necessary modifications to operations.
■
Meetings to make decisions and solve problems need sufficient information if they are to achieve their purpose.
■
Ways in which meetings can go wrong include: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
dealing with trivial issues at length; failing to deal with major issues adequately; being badly chaired; being dominated by arguments between factions; going on too long; drifting into digressions; failing to reach conclusions.
■
To help avoid these problems, careful preparation is needed.
■
In preparing for a meeting you need to consider: ■ ■ ■ ■
■
If you are chairing a meeting you need to ensure that: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■
the agenda is followed without cutting off valuable discussion; no one dominates the meeting; everyone has the opportunity to contribute; participants keep to the point; any decisions are made by general agreement.
To be an effective contributor to a meeting you need to: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■
who should attend; when and where it will be held; what information participants should receive in advance; what your role will be.
be assertive; listen carefully; read other people’s body language and adapt your own to give the right signals; speak clearly and to the point; ask questions that will get an informative reply.
Drawing up an action plan plays an important role in ensuring that decisions made at meetings are implemented.
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Session B Taking notes
1 Introduction You will need to take notes in a number of different contexts. It could be in a formal or informal interview or other face-to-face meetings with one person or a large group, or it could be notes of a phone call or workshop or seminar you are attending. Whatever the nature of the meeting or the activity, your notes form your primary record of what happened, what was discussed and decided, and what action you and others have agreed to take. Look back to recent occasions when you have taken notes, and ask yourself: ■ ■ ■
Did I use any form at all? Are my notes clear or confusing? Did I capture the main points and any sub-points, including any decisions that were made or actions that were agreed? Did I streamline my notes by using abbreviations and shortcuts? This session is all about how you can do this to make your notes more effective and useful.
2 The purpose of notes Whatever the context, you should be clear about the purpose of your notetaking. Are the notes for your future reference, to help you remember what you have to do? Are they the basis for minutes of the meeting, interview or discussion, which you have to write up and circulate? Or are they for someone
25
Session B else who can’t be there, to enable them to know what happened? We can call these three reasons: ■ ■ ■
Personal reference Minute-taking Reporting As you will see, each of these purposes has implications for what you write and how you write it. Don’t take notes simply because everyone else is. Take them because you know why you intend to use them.
Activity 15
5 mins
Select a sample of notes that you have made recently, possibly in different formats, and consider each of them. Note down here which of these notes were: Personal reference
Minute-taking
Reporting to others
Personal reference Notes taken for personal reference provide you with a record of what was said, what was decided and what action you agreed to take. If you ever look back on meetings and ask yourself ‘What did I agree to do?’ then you will appreciate the benefits of making notes there and then. Notes that are taken at the time of an event are called contemporaneous and should record what actually happened, as opposed to what people would like to think happened. This can be particularly significant if your notes turn out to be the only record of a meeting. In some instances, your notes may be the only record of what
26
Session B was discussed, decisions that were made and actions that were agreed. This could prove to be important at a later date. In the event that the meeting or discussions is relevant to a legal case, your contemporaneous notes could be crucial in proving what happened.
Activity 16
4 mins
Sam is the manager of a retail outlet. A customer has come into the shop and is complaining to a member of the sales team that the CD-radio player she was sold is not what she wanted. She had asked for a digital radio but it was an FM radio and she couldn’t get the digital stations she wanted. Peter, the shop assistant she speaks to looks at the box that the CD-radio is in and shows her that it says FM radio. He tells her, ‘If it were a digital radio it would say so on the box.’ Sam immediately intervenes to apologize to the customer. He tells Peter to put the CD-radio back in the stock room and check it. He then shows the customer the digital radios they stock and she agrees to take one in exchange. Sam asks Peter to come into his office. He tells him that it is completely unacceptable to speak to a customer in the way he did, not just what he said but his tone of voice. Peter protests that ‘the customer must be stupid if she doesn’t know the difference between a digital and an FM radio’. Sam tells him that is completely the wrong attitude and that if he persists in behaving like that he will be in serious trouble. He adds that he is not making this an official warning, but that if something like this happens again, he could find himself in trouble. Why should Sam make a note of this meeting?
What are the key points that he should record?
27
Session B Although this has not been a formal disciplinary warning about his behaviour, he has been advised that a repetition could lead to a formal warning. This is a good reason to make a record, in case there were ever to be an Employment Tribunal case, as it would show that any subsequent behaviour was not a oneoff but part of a continuing problem. Sam should record the date and time of the meeting, and briefly note the events that caused him to warn Peter about his behaviour and the nature of the warning he gave him.
Minute-taking Minutes are generally only kept for formal meetings and usually follow the agenda, in terms of the order and structure. It is useful to number the main points on the agenda and then use this numbering to structure your notes as you take them. You can then combine the minutes with the agenda headings when you write up the minutes later. It is usual when taking minutes to record who said what, certainly the main points that they have made. To this end you should assign a shorthand description to each person at the meeting. This should normally be their initials. If you don’t know who is who, especially if you are taking minutes on behalf of the meeting participants, don’t be afraid to ask everyone to name themselves. It can be useful to write the names down on a separate piece of paper, laid out like the example below, and keep this on the table so you can refer to it when needed.
Rhona Ellerson (RE), Chair
Helen Wagner (HG)
Bob Wright (BW)
Matt Hellman (MH)
Ram Dhillon (RD)
Balvir Charan (BC)
Dianne Robinson (DR)
If you sit at the foot of the table when you are taking minutes, it helps you to keep track of who is speaking.
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Session B Record the gist of what someone has said and any formal agreements. It is usual to make it clear when agreement is made to start the record with ‘It was agreed that . . .’. and you may want to confirm that you have recorded it precisely if the decision is important. In some (very formal) meetings, decisions may be made by voting. As minute-taker you should record the names of those voting in favour, those against and any who abstained.
Activity 17
4 mins
Roger is site foreman on a large site, where a new office block is being built. There has been some disagreement between the project manager, civil engineer, surveyor and the health and safety manager over the best way to undertake a specific task. The health and safety manager thinks that what is being proposed could, potentially, create a serious risk. Others disagree. Roger has been asked to attend the meeting to take minutes as they want a formal record of the discussion. After nearly an hour’s discussion, the project manager (who is chairing the meeting) says that they have to decide between the two options in front of them. He asks the participants to vote for one or the other and asks Roger to make a note of the votes and the decision. Why do you think that a formal record of the voting and decision at this meeting is wanted?
Have you ever attended a meeting at which formal decisions were voted on and recorded in the minutes? Why was that done?
29
Session B In this case, the reasons for a making a formal record of what was decided is potentially crucial. If the decision were to delay the project as extra safety measures are introduced, the project manager will have to be able to justify these. On the other hand, if the reservations of the health and safety manager are over-ruled by the meeting, and the managers object to their superiors, the managers involved can show that they have considered the objections and have rejected the fears about an accident happening.
Reporting to others If you are taking notes of a meeting in order to report back to others, you need to think carefully about what it is they want to know. Is it simply a brief note on what was covered and any decisions made, or are they interested in the substance of any discussions and the points of view of those attending the meeting? If you agree to make notes for someone else, then you should check this out. If your notes are to help you report back to your team, then you should have a clear idea about what they would need to know.
Activity 18
8 mins
You are attending an important external meeting. It is about significant changes being made in the EU rules affecting some specific aspects of your company’s operations. By no means all the company is affected, and your team’s work is affected far more than any others. The main speaker is an official involved in the setting of these rules and all your major competitors are likely to be there. There will be an opportunity for everyone to ask questions about the specific effects of the new regulations. Your manager should be there but has been taken seriously ill. A senior manager has asked you to attend in your manager’s place and take notes and prepare reports for several different groups. Look at the list of people below, for whom you are taking notes. What do you think would be the focus of your notes to report back to the different people listed? ■
30
The senior management team
Session B ■
The company newsletter
■
Your team
Clearly you can only make one set of notes so you need to decide who needs the fullest set and use these as the basis for your note-taking. The company newsletter will need only the barest details, but the senior management will want to know the main points of the regulations and how this will affect the organization’s operations. They will also be very interested in what questions your competitors ask, as this may indicate how they will respond to the regulations. Your team will also be interested in the practical effects of the rules, probably in more detail than the senior managers, but won’t necessarily want to know the specific details of the relations themselves.
2.1 Benefits of note-taking As well as keeping notes for future use, by you or by others, the process of note-taking can present benefits, just by you taking them: 1. Note-taking helps you to remember information. As you think about what is being said and try to re-organize it and paraphrase it to note it down, you are inevitably having to make sense of it at the same time. This encourages you to fit it into what you already know about the topic, making future recall easier and more accurate. 2. Note-taking helps you to concentrate in meetings. Because you are trying to process the information in order to make notes, you are also having to listen carefully to what is being said. This can help you avoid being distracted. 3. Your notes can often trigger ideas for future action. As you make notes, you may well recognize what this means for you and what you might need to do. You should record these points for future actions and make sure that you follow up on them. The rest of this session will help you to develop the practical skills you need to take advantage of these benefits.
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Session B
3 Listening for a purpose The average person speaks approximately 125–140 words per minute. The average note-taker writes at a rate of about 25 words per minute, unless he or she knows shorthand. Simple arithmetic tells us that you will only capture one in five or one in six of the words being used in a meeting. The challenge for anyone trying to take notes is to make sure that you listen carefully to what is being said, and distil out the one in six (or perhaps only one in ten or one in twenty words) that really matter. There is one other fact worth knowing. We can probably absorb information at the rate of about 400 or 500 words a minute, so normal speech is much slower than we can cope with. That difference is the opportunity we need to think about what is being said (and not being said) and identify what we need to record. Good listeners try to anticipate what a speaker is going to be saying. If they are right in what they anticipated, what is said reinforces what they anticipated. If they are wrong, it will make them think carefully why they got it wrong. In either case, their chances of understanding and remembering what was said is probably twice as good as it would have been otherwise. Good listeners also analyse what is being said, looking to see how well the argument is being put and what evidence is being presented to justify what is being said. This can help you present what is being said in your notes, as a developing argument, using arrows and links between points, to show how the argument is being made. One of the big advantages that thought has over speech is that you have the opportunity to think back over what has been said very quickly. This helps when a speaker pauses, because it gives you time to review what has been said and identify the key points for your notes.
Activity 19
5 mins
This Activity is designed to help you develop your ability to listen to speech in order to take notes. Tune into a speech radio station (such as BBC Radio 4, 5 or 7) for about five minutes. Listen carefully to what is being said and note down the main points. It doesn’t matter what the subject matter is. Can you record the main points without having to ‘tune out’ of the continuing broadcast? If you find it difficult, try again at intervals to develop your skill at listening and taking notes at the same time.
32
Session B You will find that taking notes helps you to pay attention. When you are listening to someone else, your mind can all too easily wander off, particularly if the person is repetitive or has a monotonous voice. You might be inclined to think about other work you have to do, or what you are doing tonight or this weekend. You will also find that afternoon meetings, especially about an hour after you have eaten lunch, are difficult ones in which to pay attention. Your brain wants to shut down while you digest your food! Taking notes can help you to keep focused on the topic and to the task at hand. Taking notes will also help you to remember later what you have heard (or what you have read – much of the guidance on taking notes in meetings is as relevant to taking notes of your reading). There is evidence that we absorb information more effectively when we are using more than one sense and doing more than one thing. When we take notes we are using our listening (or reading) skills and our writing skills, and we are also using both our brains and our bodies (most specifically, our arms and hands). What’s more, when you are taking notes you are having to paraphrase what is being said (unless you are making verbatim notes, recording each word used, which is rare). As well as having to convert the speaker’s words into your own, you are also having to think about how you are laying the words out, to fit into the format you are using. This makes it far more likely that you will remember and understand what you are recording.
4 Practical techniques of note taking Well written notes should arrange the content to make the notes clearer and more meaningful. Many people use a single journal to keep all their notes, simply putting the date and the time of each meeting (When?) and recording its location (Where?), participants (Who?) and purpose (Why?). The big advantage of this approach is that it is possible to refer back to any meeting at any time. If you want to keep meeting notes filed with other details of the subject matter, you can always photocopy your notes and file these.
4.1 Structuring your notes It is also useful to put a margin down each side of each page. These should both be about 1 inch/2.5 cm wide, and should be used for different purposes. The left margin can be used to put symbols to identify significant content. Michael Hyatt, the Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers, uses
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Session B four symbols for this purpose. He says, in his weblog (http://michaelhyatt. blogs.com): ■ ■ ■ ■
If an item is particularly important or insightful, I put a star next to it. If an item requires further research or resolution, I put a question mark next to it. If an item requires follow-up, I put a ballot box (open square) next to it. When the item is completed, I check it off. If I have assigned a follow-up item to someone, I put an open circle next to it (similar to the ballot box but a circle rather than a square). In the notes, I indicate who is responsible. When the item is completed, I check it off. This simple approach makes it easy to review notes later and see quickly anything important that was discussed or agreed. In the right hand margin you can add your own references later, either to points discussed later in the meeting, or elsewhere. By having some space for adding points (possibly in a different colour ink) you make the notes of meeting far more valuable as a source of information and knowledge.
Activity 20
4 mins
Review your own note-taking practice. Do you use any similar to Michael Hyatt? If you do, compare your approach to his. If you don’t, do you think that this would make your notes clearer? Try using his approach (or something similar) on a set of notes from recent meetings. Does it add anything to them?
4.2 Linear or graphical? Meetings are linear in form. They start at one point in time and continue along a timeline until the end. Your notes reflect this single dimension, as they tend to be linear, starting at the beginning of the meeting and finishing at the end. But is this the way that the ideas being discussed go? Frequently ideas are introduced and dropped, then picked up again. In fact, the more creative and imaginative the discussion, the less linear the thinking is. This makes note-taking difficult. One way of coping with this is to use a structured format for presenting linear notes that allows you to embed ideas.
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Session B Embedding means that you structure the ideas so that all those that are linked together are kept together under a common heading like this: A. 1. a. i.
Main idea or discussion topics Major sub-topics or -ideas being discussed Supporting detail for the sub-topic or -idea Even finer supporting detail for the sub-topic or -idea This sequence of ideas or topics means that every point sits at a particular level within the structure. The labelling system (capital letter, number, lower case letter, Roman numeral) allows you to make comparisons between points at different levels. The difficulty with this approach is that you need to have some idea of what the basic structure will look like before you start. However, if you do not crowd your notes together, it is possible to add in sub-topics if they come up later in the discussion. However, there are other approaches you can use. These graphical formats use diagrams or other visual devices to make the patterns and linkages clearer. One format is the flowchart, which allows you to note down processes or sequences of actions or ideas visually. The example below shows part of a discussion about the development of a new appraisal system.
Purposewhy are we doing this? Appraisal system Process– how are we going to do it?
New bonus system being introduced Need to improve performance Need to check practice across different departments What about Trade Union agreements? Has anybody had ANY experience elsewhere?
EXTENSION 4 Mind Maps were invented by Tony Buzan and his book How to Mind Map: The Ultimate Thinking Tool That Will Change Your Life shows you how you can draw Mind Maps as a tool for structuring information and ideas.
There are more sophisticated systems for recording notes graphically, the most widely known and respected being MindMaps®.
However you structure your notes, always make time to review and summarize your notes as soon as possible after you have taken them when the meeting is still fresh in your mind.
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Session B
4.3 Practical tips The following tips will help you take notes accurately and still be able to play an active role in the meeting. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■
Take notes consistently, so that you don’t leave holes in your record that you can’t fill, but be selective about what you record. Make sure it is important. Translate other people’s ideas into your own words, so that you know what it means. Write legibly. Notes are useless if you cannot read them later! Don’t worry about spelling and grammar. Leave out all the small connecting words (like: is, are, was, were, a/an/the, etc.) and the pronouns (like: they/she/he, their/her/his, etc.) Use abbreviations, by leaving off the last letters of longer words and miss out the vowels of shorter words (“Use abbrev., leav off lst lttrs lngr wrds & mss out vwls of shrter wrds”) Use symbols rather than words, such as:
Use
For
and or plus
equals or the same
minus
more than or larger
less/fewer than or smaller
w/
with
w/o
without
w/in
within
→
results in
←
comes from
For example: “Larger vehicles could lead to fewer journeys without saving any costs” becomes: HGV → journeys w/o £££
Activity 20
5 mins
Take a set of notes from a recent meeting and look at how you might have used some of these techniques to enable you to structure your notes better, and to save time in making them. Try out some of these techniques in future meetings, gradually introducing them as you get more confident in their use.
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Session B
Self-assessment 2 1
What are the three main purposes of notes of meetings?
2
What structure do the minutes of a meeting generally follow?
3
What are the three main benefits from the process of note-taking?
4
At what rate do people generally: Speak?
_______ words per minute
Write notes?
_______ words per minute
Absorb information?
_______ words per minute
6 mins
5
What are the four pieces of information you should note at the top of any record of a meeting?
6
What are the two main ways of laying out your notes?
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Session B
5 Summary ■
The notes of meetings need to be kept for a variety of reasons, the main ones being: ■ ■ ■
Personal reference Minute-taking Reporting
■
Minutes of formal meetings record what has been said by participants and what has been agreed, and generally follow the structure of the agenda.
■
The process of note-taking can contribute to the effectiveness of the meeting by helping: ■ ■ ■
remember information. concentrate in meetings. trigger ideas for future action.
■
Because people speak, write and listen at different speeds, you should use this to analyse information and record only what is significant.
■
A journal can be useful in enabling you to record all meetings in one place, noting for each its: ■ ■ ■ ■
date and the time of each meeting (When?) location (Where?) participants (Who?) purpose (Why?)
■
Because meetings are linear, notes tend to be as well, but the ideas being explored are often nonlinear, as people jump about from topic to topic, so that graphical notes can often record them more effectively.
■
Practical techniques for taking notes easily include being consistent but selective, translating other people’s ideas into your own words, writing legibly but not worrying about spelling and grammar, leaving out all the small connecting words and using abbreviations and symbols rather than words.
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Performance checks
1 Quick quiz Write down your answer in the space below to the following questions on Meetings. Question 1
What are three of the main reasons for formal meetings in organizations?
Question 2
When organizing a meeting, one of the first things you need to decide is who should attend. What else do you need to decide in preparation?
Question 3
What are the standard formal items that normally appear on an agenda for a meeting?
Question 4
If, during a meeting, there is something you want to say on a particular topic, when is the most effective time to do so?
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Performance checks Question 5
In chairing a meeting, what should you aim to achieve by the end of it?
Question 6
Why is it usually so important to distribute minutes straight after a meeting?
Question 7
What are the main reasons why notes are kept of meetings?
Question 8
How can note-taking help you get more out of a meeting?
Question 9
People write, speak and listen to information at different speeds. Match them to the speeds below: ■ ■ ■
People __________ at 120–140 words per minute People __________ at 25 words per minute People __________ at 400–500 words per minute
Question 10
What are the four words that remind you what to put at the top of your notes of all the meetings you attend?
Question 11
List two ways of laying out your notes graphically:
Answers to these questions can be found on pages 49–50.
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Performance checks
60 mins
2 Workbook assessment Read the following and then answer the questions that follow. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper. Kate is asked by her manager to arrange a meeting of representatives from seven different departments to discuss some problems that have occurred in processing customer orders. The objective is to draw up proposals for new revised procedures so as to prevent these problems recurring. Kate has never organized a formal meeting like this before, and feels rather unsure of herself.
■ ■
What will Kate need to do in organizing this meeting? What difficulties is she likely to encounter and how might she cope with them? Kate’s manager is expecting to chair the meeting, but at the last moment, he is called to an unscheduled meeting with the directors. He tells Kate to chair it herself and make sure that it comes to some decisions that will be acted upon. Kate has never chaired a formal meeting before, though she has been present at several. She does not feel very confident about this meeting, particularly since most of the people attending will be more senior than her.
■ ■ ■
What will Kate’s main tasks be? What difficulties is she likely to encounter? How can she ensure that the meeting will come to some decisions that will be acted upon?
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Reflect and review
1 Reflect and review Now that you have completed your work on Effective Meetings for Managers let us review the workbook objectives. Our first objective was that: ■
you will be better able to organize and run meetings to achieve their objectives. There is nothing particularly difficult about organizing meetings: it is essentially a matter of following some basic guidelines. Running a meeting can be more difficult until you’ve had some practice and begun to feel more confident about it. Whenever you attend a meeting chaired by someone else, it’s a good idea to take note of the strategies employed to keep things moving along. What works and what doesn’t work in attempting to run a successful meeting? ■
Is there anyone in your organization whom you consider to be particularly good at running meetings? What strategies do they employ to achieve the meeting’s objectives? (If you’re not sure about the answer to this question now, consider it at the next meeting you go to chaired by this person.)
Participants have as much responsibility as the chairperson in ensuring that a meeting achieves its objectives. Not preparing properly, taking a negative attitude, attempting to dominate, or failing to listen, are among the many things contributors can do to jeopardize the success of a meeting. As a manager you should know that most meetings take place for a good reason and that it’s essential for you to take a positive attitude to them.
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Reflect and review The second objective was as follows. ■
You will be better able to make effective contributions to meetings. An effective contribution is one that helps the work of the meeting and possibly helps achieve the objectives of the contributor. Thorough preparation is the key. This means reading the documentation you receive, perhaps doing your own research, and discussing the issues with your team or whoever else you may be representing. ■
Think back to your last meeting at which you were a contributor. Did you prepare properly? Devise some basic guidelines for yourself on how to prepare for a similar meeting in the future.
The final objective was: ■
You will be better able to take notes and plan action as result of the meeting. Taking notes is a practical skill that makes significant demands on your intellectual skills. You are listening to information and trying to make sense of it whilst, perhaps, planning your own response and at the same time trying to paraphrase what is being said and controlling your arm and hand to record this on paper. This is true multi-tasking, and it is far harder than many people recognize. ■
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Look back at your notes of a meeting you have attended recently and review what you recorded. How well do they record what you remember of the meeting? Can you identify the key points that were being made, from your notes?
Reflect and review
2 Action plan Use this plan to further develop for yourself a course of action you want to take. Make a note in the left-hand column of the issues or problems you want to tackle, and then decide what you want to do, and make a note in column 2. The resources you need might include time, materials, information or money. You may need to negotiate for some of them, but others could be easy to acquire, like half an hour of somebody’s time, or a chapter of a book. Put whatever you need in column 3. No plan means anything without a timescale, so put a realistic target completion date in column 4.
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Desired outcomes
1 Issues
Actual outcomes
2 Action
3 Resources
4 Target completion
Reflect and review
3 Extensions Extension 1
Book Author Edition Publisher
Managing Meetings Tim Hindle 1998 Dorling Kindersley
Good advice on how to prepare for, and contribute to, meetings – covering topics such as setting the agenda, organizing the location and seating arrangements, taking an active role and listening to others – is provided by this book. A chapter on chairing meetings offers advice on, for example, keeping order, setting and managing the pace, and using formal procedures. A special section is devoted to deciding whether you need a meeting at all. Extension 2
Book Author Edition Publisher
The Meetings Pocketbook Patrick Forsyth 1996 Management Pocketbooks
This is an easy-to-read guide to all the do’s and don’t’s of making meetings successful. It covers advance preparation, chairing, controlling discussions, effective participation and the use of minutes. Extension 3
Book Author Edition Publisher
Taking Minutes of Meetings Joanna Gutmann 2001 Kogan Page
This book is a practical reference book written from the point of view of the minute-taker and assuming no help from anybody. Advice is given on: setting up a meeting; sections of a meeting; the agenda; personal preparation; taking notes; the minutes; and recording decisions and actions. Extension 4
Book Author Edition Publisher
How to Mind Map: The Ultimate Thinking Tool That Will Change Your life Tony Buzan 2003 HarperCollins
Tony Buzan is the creator of mindmapping and is a true enthusiast, something that is reflected in his writing style. However, this book is designed specifically to be a how-to-do-it guide and succeeds well. It takes you through the logic of Mind Maps and shows how you can benefit from using them in your daily life.
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Reflect and review
4 Answers to self-assessment questions Self-assessment I on pages 22–3
1
Among the main purposes of meetings are: ■ ■ ■
communicating information; management control; making decisions and solving problems.
2
In preparing for a meeting you also need to consider what information the participants should receive in advance.
3
The correct order for the agenda is as follows. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
4
The responsibilities of the chairperson include the following. ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■
5
Apologies for absence (1) Introductions (2) Minutes of the last meeting (3) Project to streamline distribution process: review of progress (4) Deviations from plan: discussion of what is to be done about them (5) Decisions on what’s to be done and by whom (6) Any other business (7) Date of next meeting (8)
Introducing PARTICIPANTS or asking them to introduce themselves. Discussing any TIMINGS on an agenda. Ensuring that the AGENDA is followed without cutting off valuable discussion. Preventing any PARTICIPANTS from speaking too long. Ensuring that everyone has the OPPORTUNITY to contribute. Ensuring that participants keep to the POINT. Ensuring that any DECISION is made by general agreement.
Being an effective contributor to a meeting does not mean: a being prepared to cut across people when necessary; d asking closed questions. Rather than cutting across people you should always be calm and polite. If you only ask closed questions you will not get informative replies. You need open questions to get these.
6
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An action plan helps to ensure that decisions are implemented by establishing what is to be done, by whom, and by when.
Reflect and review Self-assessment 2 on page 37
1
The three main purposes of notes of meetings are: ■ ■ ■
Personal reference Minute-taking Reporting
2
The minutes of a meeting generally follow the structure of the agenda
3
The three main benefits from the process of note-taking 1 Note-taking helps you to remember information. 2 Note-taking helps you to concentrate in meetings. 3 Your notes can often trigger ideas for future action.
4
People generally: ■ ■ ■
5
The four pieces of information you should note at the top of any record of a meeting are: ■ ■ ■ ■
6
Speak at 120–140 words per minute Write notes at 25 words per minute Absorb information at 400–500 words per minute
The date and the time of each meeting (When?) The location (Where?) The participants (Who?) The purpose (Why?)
The two main ways of laying out your notes are: ■ ■
Linear Graphical
5 Answers to the quick quiz Answer 1
Three of the main reasons for formal meetings in organizations are: ■ ■ ■
Answer 2
communicating information; management control; making decisions and solving problems.
When organizing a meeting, you need to establish not only who is going to attend but also: ■ ■ ■
when and where the meeting will be held; what information participants need to receive in advance; what your role in the meeting will be.
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Reflect and review Answer 3
The standard formal items that normally appear on an agenda for a meeting are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
apologies for absence; minutes of the last meeting; matters arising; any other business; date of next meeting.
Answer 4
The most effective time to say something on a topic fairly early on. You should then listen to what others have to say and speak again when you have a thought-out response to make.
Answer 5
In chairing a meeting, you should aim to ensure that all the objectives have been achieved by the end of it.
Answer 6
It’s important to distribute minutes straight after a meeting because people are expected to check that they are an accurate record of the meeting. But, more important, is that prompt minutes ensure that there is as little delay as possible in getting started on any actions that have been agreed at the meeting.
Answer 7
The three main purposes of notes of meetings are for personal reference, minute-taking and reporting to others.
Answer 8
Note-taking helps you to remember information, concentrate in meetings and can often trigger ideas for future action.
Answer 9
People write at 25 words per minute, speak at 120–140 words per minute and listen to information at 400–500 words per minute.
Answer 10
The four words that you should put at the top of your notes of all the meetings you attend are When, Where, Who and Why.
Answer 11
Two ways of laying out your notes graphically are flow charts and Mind Maps®.
6 Certificate Completion of the certificate by an authorized person shows that you have worked through all the parts of this workbook and satisfactorily completed the assessments. The certificate provides a record of what you have done that may be used for exemptions or as evidence of prior learning against other nationally certificated qualifications.
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